Armor Is Useless: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~ewoks_5110~~.jpg|link=Star Wars|frame|Damn it, why didn't we upgrade the [[Rock Beats Laser|anti-stick]] shielding on this armor?]]

[[File:ewoks 5110.jpg|link=Star Wars|frame|Damn it, why didn't we upgrade the [[Rock Beats Laser|anti-stick]] shielding on this armor?]]

{{quote|'''Hector''': A man died while wearing it!

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In fiction, armor has virtually no protective qualities. Characters who wear no armor to speak of are no more (and often less) at risk of injury or death than somebody who is "protected". Indeed, it's often the case that people who wear armor find themselves far more competent after they either discard it or have it [[Clothing Damage|destroyed for them]] by the nice people out to kill them. In the latter case, it leaves one wondering why they bothered with it in the first place, if they can survive attacks that completely demolish their armor anyway.

This trope probably stems from the fact that ~~armor -- especially~~ [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic|helmets]] ~~-- in~~ movies, games, and other media often serves not to protect characters but to render them [[Faceless Goons|faceless and anonymous]]. Thus dehumanized, they make excellent [[Red Shirt]] and [[Mooks]]. The [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]] may also be connected; the armor represents a plan to be invulnerable, which, once presented to the audience, has to fail or it'd be boringly predictable. (This helps explain why ''hidden'' [[Bulletproof Vest~~|Bulletproof Vests~~]] usually work.)

This trope probably stems from the fact that armor—especially [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic|helmets]]—in movies, games, and other media often serves not to protect characters but to render them [[Faceless Goons|faceless and anonymous]]. Thus dehumanized, they make excellent [[Red Shirt]] and [[Mooks]]. The [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]] may also be connected; the armor represents a plan to be invulnerable, which, once presented to the audience, has to fail or it'd be boringly predictable. (This helps explain why ''hidden'' [[Bulletproof Vest]]s usually work.)

See also [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort]]. The logical extreme of this trope is the [[Full-Frontal Assault]]. For non-armor objects that make for bizarrely non-useless armor, see [[Pocket Protector]].

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': The Sailor Senshi wore nothing but moderately skimpy clothing made of what appears to be cotton, yet appeared to be perfectly capable of keeping their ~~wearers -- exposed~~ skin and ~~all -- protected~~ from everything from flying debris to flames to the vacuum of space. Further, while they were often smacked around, their clothing only showed it when they were fighting the [[Big Bad]] or somebody directly under them. In the live-action ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'', Senshi wears some ~~armor -- a~~ sports-bra-style [[Breast Plate]] made of what looks like fiberglass or plastic.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': The Sailor Senshi wore nothing but moderately skimpy clothing made of what appears to be cotton, yet appeared to be perfectly capable of keeping their wearers—exposed skin and all—protected from everything from flying debris to flames to the vacuum of space. Further, while they were often smacked around, their clothing only showed it when they were fighting the [[Big Bad]] or somebody directly under them. In the live-action ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'', Senshi wears some armor—a sports-bra-style [[Breast Plate]] made of what looks like fiberglass or plastic.

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': While in one of the earliest episodes Inuyasha insists on Kagome wearing his robe (a kind of magical fireproof vest), for most of the series a simple [[Sailor Fuku]] had no trouble keeping her safe from harm. And then there's Inuyasha's [[Bring My Red Jacket|own luck with that red robe]] ...

* ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' Van's armour is destroyed in the first fight and he spends the rest of the series fighting in vest and trousers. Except when he is in the eponymous [[Humongous Mecha]], where he tends to sufferer a greater number of injuries rather than fewer.

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* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'': Varies wildly. Sometimes armors play a vital role in a fight, sometimes a Saint gets his armor destroyed yet it doesn't seem to make him more vulnerable to attacks. The fact that some armors leave a lot of the wearer's body completely exposed remains consistently unimportant.

** Shiryu is an isolated case, as he always seem to end up naked (and blind too), but still wins most of his fights. In the fandom it is common to joke that a battle starring Shiryu is to take a while while he's still armored (and seeing). It is a common theme that Shiryu needs to outgrow the need for his armor to win a battle, not in small part because the armor gets in the way of his special technique of the week. On the other hand, he usually ends up the most battered of the team (Seiya gets bettered a lot too, but since it is usually in his [[Hard Head]], he's fine).

* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' subverts this in the Greenback Jane arc. One of the few hired guns to walk away from the siege (not counting the ones who had to swim) -- and the only one to do so under his own ~~power -- is~~ the one who wore a bulletproof vest.

* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' subverts this in the Greenback Jane arc. One of the few hired guns to walk away from the siege (not counting the ones who had to swim) -- and the only one to do so under his own power—is the one who wore a bulletproof vest.

* The heavily kevlar-armoured soldiers in ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' die in scores when battling naked teenage girls - then again, said teenage girls have immense [[Psychic Powers]] that render them [[Immune to Bullets]] and lets them pull people's limbs off with their mind.

* ''[[Tears to Tiara]]'' : The enemy soldiers in the first arc may as well have been wearing Saran Wrap, for all the good their armor did them against the heroes' attacks.

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== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' featured all kinds of armor, none of which were actually useful. The kevlar worn by the Tau'ri (humans from Earth) does nothing to stop any of the weapons they face (in fact, it's been stated that it actually makes things worse when it comes to [[Boom Stick|staff weapons]]). It's worth noting that SG-1 itself doesn't bother with armor yet seems to have the lowest casualty rate of any SG team. Jaffa armor starts off being effective, a situation that is changed once the Tau'ri replace low-velocity MP5s with P90s and armor-piercing ammunition, instantly turning initially invincible juggernauts into generic [[~~Mook|mooks~~]].

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' featured all kinds of armor, none of which were actually useful. The kevlar worn by the Tau'ri (humans from Earth) does nothing to stop any of the weapons they face (in fact, it's been stated that it actually makes things worse when it comes to [[Boom Stick|staff weapons]]). It's worth noting that SG-1 itself doesn't bother with armor yet seems to have the lowest casualty rate of any SG team. Jaffa armor starts off being effective, a situation that is changed once the Tau'ri replace low-velocity MP5s with P90s and armor-piercing ammunition, instantly turning initially invincible juggernauts into generic [[mook]]s.

** "Heroes," the same episode that mentioned the kevlar problem, also demonstrated an experiment in new anti-Jaffa armor inserts, which let Sgt. Siler take a full staff blast in the gut and only get knocked back and lightly set on fire. This armor is credited with {{spoiler|saving Colonel O'Neill's life when he's shot in action}}.

** The Jaffa in the original movie were more ceremonially dressed, and didn't wear armor, allowing O'Neill to take one down with a burst of submachine gun rounds into the exposed gut. The TV show had to tone down the violence though, and had armored Jaffa largely because bullet impacts on armor are less graphic than bloody chunks getting shot out of somebody. So the armor was more to protect the show's rating than the Jaffa themselves.

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' armor is the ''easiest'' way to get higher Armor Class, but it tops out at a certain point, and using the really heavy armor [[Mighty Glacier|comes with drawbacks]] ~~-- including~~ penalties to many physical actions. Some characters are prohibited from using their special powers while wearing armor that is too heavy, or wearing any armor at all. In versions 3.0 and beyond, armor is also judged worthless when determining whether "touch attack" spells hit, which generally confer the most devastating effects in the game. Ultimately there are many magical alternatives to armor that will increase your Armor Class at a greater cost, but without all the drawbacks.

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' armor is the ''easiest'' way to get higher Armor Class, but it tops out at a certain point, and using the really heavy armor [[Mighty Glacier|comes with drawbacks]]—including penalties to many physical actions. Some characters are prohibited from using their special powers while wearing armor that is too heavy, or wearing any armor at all. In versions 3.0 and beyond, armor is also judged worthless when determining whether "touch attack" spells hit, which generally confer the most devastating effects in the game. Ultimately there are many magical alternatives to armor that will increase your Armor Class at a greater cost, but without all the drawbacks.

** Monks in particular embody this trope since they lose almost all of their abilities if they put on anything heavier than a wool shirt. Additionally, they gain a bonus to Armour Class based on their Wisdom and level. It is fairly easy, magic aside, for a monk to quickly outstrip even the heaviest armoured fighters.

** In the 3.5 Edition, many players feel that Armor Class itself, encompassing all types of defense, is useless because most monsters have a high probability of hitting you anyway, due to their huge Base Attack Bonuses granted by racial hit dice, their often enormous strength, and the fact that their natural attacks do not follow the same degradation formula that weapon users do. It does limit the extent of Power Attack that can be levied against players and certain creatures do make extensive use of weapons, meaning that their last few hits have a lowered chance of hitting you, but it doesn't change the fact that against anyone who doesn't use weapons will tear a player character apart and there's nothing his or her armor can do about it. Players ultimately discovered that [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort|the best defense is a good offense]], sacrificing Armor Class for the sake of increased attack power, effectively turning most characters into [[Glass Cannon~~|Glass Cannons~~]].

** In the 3.5 Edition, many players feel that Armor Class itself, encompassing all types of defense, is useless because most monsters have a high probability of hitting you anyway, due to their huge Base Attack Bonuses granted by racial hit dice, their often enormous strength, and the fact that their natural attacks do not follow the same degradation formula that weapon users do. It does limit the extent of Power Attack that can be levied against players and certain creatures do make extensive use of weapons, meaning that their last few hits have a lowered chance of hitting you, but it doesn't change the fact that against anyone who doesn't use weapons will tear a player character apart and there's nothing his or her armor can do about it. Players ultimately discovered that [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort|the best defense is a good offense]], sacrificing Armor Class for the sake of increased attack power, effectively turning most characters into [[Glass Cannon]]s.

** As early as level 7 (of 20), the right combination of magical effects (decoys and percentile "miss chance" rolls) can provide just as much protection as an arbitrarily high armor class. These effects are most readily available to Sorcerers and Wizards, the characters who suffer the most from wearing actual armor.

** With 4e armor becomes more of a relative thing because characters add half their level to their armor class while adding half their level to their chance to hit. While it can create problems, it tends to nicely simulate films of the fantasy genre: Achilles in ''Troy'' can wade through soldiers by slashing throats and otherwise finding the weak spots in their armor, while Aragorn and Legolas don't get hit during a mass melee despite their light armor.

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** Admitedly, the weaponry used by other species includes, but is not limited to, [[BFG|armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades]], [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|mono-edged high-speed shurikens]], [[Abnormal Ammo|armored flesh-eating acidic worms]] or [[Energy Weapon|droplets of superheated plasma]]. And thats just what the line infantry uses. Especialists and other elites can, and often do, pack much deadlier weaponry. On the other hand, flak armor provides quite decent protection against lasbolts, bullets (even high-caliber ones) and most conventional melee weapons and its one of the best armors available to starting characters in the [[Dark Heresy|RPG]].

** Dark Eldar wyches play this trope to a tee, with a superhuman athleticism that means the less armour they wear, the more they've practised to avoid needing it (and wearing less armour allows you to be more agile). A wych who goes into battle [[Full-Frontal Assault|wearing nothing]] will mess your heavily-armoured troops up badly.

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', averted at the low levels, as good armor vastly increases your survival chance in a ~~fight--aside~~ from the fact that the rules specifically state that the only reason to wear a helmet is if you don't think your hairstyle is [[Rule of Cool|cool enough]]. Played straight at high levels, as there are enough [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] abilities that only need to touch you to mess you up in ways ranging from petrification to ''having your soul fall off'' that characters will mostly be depending on magically-powered defenses, rendering armor somewhat redundant.

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', averted at the low levels, as good armor vastly increases your survival chance in a fight—aside from the fact that the rules specifically state that the only reason to wear a helmet is if you don't think your hairstyle is [[Rule of Cool|cool enough]]. Played straight at high levels, as there are enough [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] abilities that only need to touch you to mess you up in ways ranging from petrification to ''having your soul fall off'' that characters will mostly be depending on magically-powered defenses, rendering armor somewhat redundant.

** Armour is a lot more useful with the 2.5 revisions, which halved the cost in Artifact dots for a decent suit and reduced weapon damage across the board. It's still vulnerable to bad-touch effects, though.

* Armor in ''[[GURPS]]'' very roughly mirrors the rise and fall in armor usefulness in reality, with available armor playing catch up early in each TL. This ceases to be the case at TL 12 where you can buy guns that delete people from reality, which renders armor rather pointless.

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** To quote the ''Player's Guide'', "Everyone else simply does without."

** Armor rules were later printed in the ''[[Fanon Discontinuity|Cathay]]'' supplement, which was written after all of the setting's creators had [[Just for Pun|jumped ship]].

* In ''MERP'' <ref>and by extension ''[[Role Master]]</ref>, unarmoured was usually better than soft and hard leather armour against most weapons. Each weapon had a strike table against each armour type (AT) and it was far easier to hit higher armors on average, but you dealt mere damage. The real killer in rolemaster/MERP was the critical strike table roll, which was easier to gain against most armors in the game than it was against not wearing armor at all. Soft and Rigid leather was not only easier to hit and deal damage to, it was far more deadly to wear as critical strike table rolls occured more often! Medium armors like chain also suffered from this to an extent against many weapons. Not only did critical strike table rolls deal things such as stuns, even the weakest table (A) had a chance to maim, incapacitate or outright kill your character on a percentage roll! And this is something you not only had to invest dev points in for manouvrability, it also carried a quickness penalty to make you even easier to hit while wearing it!

* In ''MERP'',<ref>and by extension ''[[Role Master]]</ref> unarmoured was usually better than soft and hard leather armour against most weapons. Each weapon had a strike table against each armour type (AT) and it was far easier to hit higher armors on average, but you dealt mere damage. The real killer in rolemaster/MERP was the critical strike table roll, which was easier to gain against most armors in the game than it was against not wearing armor at all. Soft and Rigid leather was not only easier to hit and deal damage to, it was far more deadly to wear as critical strike table rolls occured more often! Medium armors like chain also suffered from this to an extent against many weapons. Not only did critical strike table rolls deal things such as stuns, even the weakest table (A) had a chance to maim, incapacitate or outright kill your character on a percentage roll! And this is something you not only had to invest dev points in for manouvrability, it also carried a quickness penalty to make you even easier to hit while wearing it!

== [[Video Games]] ==

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* ''[[Soul Calibur]]'': The female warrior [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Hilde]] and male hero [[The Atoner|Siegfried]] both wear heavy plate armor, and yet they still take damage at the same rate as the rest of the cast, who wear ordinary clothes, fabric bodysuits, or in Voldo's case, a simple codpiece.

** Nightmare too; when he's not Siegfried, he ''[[Animated Armor|is]]'' a set of heavy plate armor and still takes the same amount of damage as all the bondage-clad nudists running around. Plus, [[Guest Fighter|Darth Vader]]'s in the fourth game and is subject to the same convention too (contradicting the [[Star Wars]] example above in "Film").

* Played straight in ''[[Dead or Alive]]'', with the fully power-armored [[Space Marine]] Nicole being just as vulnerable to punches and kicks as the more [[Stripperiffic~~|Stripperiffically~~]]-dressed women.

* Played straight in ''[[Dead or Alive]]'', with the fully power-armored [[Space Marine]] Nicole being just as vulnerable to punches and kicks as the more [[Stripperiffic]]ally-dressed women.

* In ''[[Drakengard]]'', there is no amount of armor you can be wearing, damaged or undamaged, that changes how much damage you take. And in cutscenes, we're shown it works the same way for [[The Evil Army]], although that's possibly because the protagonist is a [[Badass Normal]].

* The ''[[Ghosts 'n Goblins]]''/''[[Ghosts 'n Goblins|Ghouls 'n Ghosts]]'' series has Arthur, who starts in full plate armour: however it just takes [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|one hit]] and your armor goes flying off, leaving you to fight beasties in his [[Goofy Print Underwear|pretty underpants]]. Another hit in that state, and he's dead.

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* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' doesn't actualy include armor as a mechanic (except for the 2nd game where shields existed). Defense is based entirely on character growths and class based caps, rather than what armor a character is physically wearing. For example in the 10th game, full plate wearing Meg's defenses are lower than the breastplate, helmet and shield wearing Aran (although Meg has a higher def cap, but her growths are so bad she will never reach it)

* While armor ''is'' quite important and tends to provide benefits other than sheer protection in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', these values don't necessarily correlate with the ''amount'' of armor. [[Breast Plate|Females get away with much less armor in general]], and an Eyepatch provides just as much protection as a full plate helmet, as long as it's given the same armor class. Another weird instance is the druid's bear form, which, despite not showing any armor whatsoever, magically ''quintuples'' the armor rating of his equipment, enabling the usually rather fragile, leather-wearing class to be a very capable tank which outranks full plate warriors and paladins in terms of sheer physical damage reduction (however, they can't use shields to block or weapons to parry, and have a rather limited array of abilities).

** In addition, [[Armor Is Useless]] when fighting elemental enemies whose elemental damage ignores armor, as do spells. Which kinda makes sense to some extent; getting hit by a fireball will probably melt you the same regardless of the thickness of what you're ~~wearing--it~~ may even be worse with metal armor if it's hot ~~enough--but~~ considering how the fire came from a flaming boulder, and therefore part of the damage is blunt force trauma, there's many types of magic for which you must scour your brain for the reasoning of how it damages someone, in that you'll survive a fireball from someone around the same level around you, despite how it's hot enough to ''set a boulder on fire'', which makes it kind of like a meteor...

** In addition, Armor Is Useless when fighting elemental enemies whose elemental damage ignores armor, as do spells. Which kinda makes sense to some extent; getting hit by a fireball will probably melt you the same regardless of the thickness of what you're wearing—it may even be worse with metal armor if it's hot enough—but considering how the fire came from a flaming boulder, and therefore part of the damage is blunt force trauma, there's many types of magic for which you must scour your brain for the reasoning of how it damages someone, in that you'll survive a fireball from someone around the same level around you, despite how it's hot enough to ''set a boulder on fire'', which makes it kind of like a meteor...

* In ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'', different armors have different strengths and weaknesses, but these are negligible. Defeating the final boss wearing nothing but underpants is not only possible, but hardly more difficult than doing so in full plate-mail.

** Lionhead Studios realized that armor was useless in Fable, and as a result, in ''[[Fable II]]'', you get the same armor bonus for wearing a harlot dress as you do for wearing a heavily layered assassin outfit: ''zero''.

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* ''[[Yo-Jin-Bo]]'': Nobody wears armor, except for {{spoiler|Mon-Mon}}, who wears [[Bulletproof Vest|chain mail]] under his clothes. Which does save him from being stabbed in the back in one event, but the trope is played straight aside from that one instance.

* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', your powers are completely divorced from your appearance, so armor really ''is'' useless. At least for protection, anyway. If you choose to wear armor, it's typically for conceptual reasons or looking cool.

* In ''The Siege of Avalon'' Anthology, the action takes place in a castle under siege, which had run out of good quality steel months earlier. Consequently, the armor and weapons coming out of the armory are pretty much ~~worthless--one~~ soldier calls them "tin swords and paper armor," and one of your earlier optional quests is to locate a cache of steel in the ruins of the town outside (though you only get a sword, not armor, for completing it). The real determining factors of whether you survive are how many hit points you have, how quickly you heal, whether you heal yourself using magic (and how good you are at it), and how many hits you actually take. Even the enchanted armor you can pick up toward the end of the game is more useful for the enchantments than the armor they're attached to.

* In ''The Siege of Avalon'' Anthology, the action takes place in a castle under siege, which had run out of good quality steel months earlier. Consequently, the armor and weapons coming out of the armory are pretty much worthless—one soldier calls them "tin swords and paper armor," and one of your earlier optional quests is to locate a cache of steel in the ruins of the town outside (though you only get a sword, not armor, for completing it). The real determining factors of whether you survive are how many hit points you have, how quickly you heal, whether you heal yourself using magic (and how good you are at it), and how many hits you actually take. Even the enchanted armor you can pick up toward the end of the game is more useful for the enchantments than the armor they're attached to.

* In ''[[Scribblenauts]]'' it is possible to create armor, helmets, shields, etc. but they don't make it any harder to die.

* None of the possible PCs, or your companions for that matter, wear armor in ''[[Jade Empire]]'', and it doesn't affect their defense at all, although amusingly several incorrect descriptions of you by enemies describe you wearing head-to-toe suits of armor.

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* In ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG]]'' your character's appearance is fully independent of your stats, to allow for total character customization. However, this also means that no matter how cool that Mythrill Armor(sic) looks on you, or how badass you look with your giant axe, you can still get killed by a flamingo if you don't have rings. The opposite is true as well.

** This is illustrated in the zOMG Manga, where a guard named Baldur is equipped with rare and expensive Mythrill Armor and an [[Katanas Are Just Better|Ancient Katana]], but is still taken out in one hit by a Buzz Saw. Conversely, Dani (Who is wearing Armor, but forgoes the chest plate) and Blaze (who isn't wearing armor at all, save for a small leather jacket) are much more effective fighters.

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', Assassinations, Hidden Blade [[Counter Attack~~|Counter Attacks~~]] and ''Brotherhood'''s new Arrow Storm and Execution moves will one-shot anyone regardless of health. Also, the Captain from ''Brotherhood'' multiplayer is a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] despite wearing full plate. On the other hand, Ezio's damage-taking improves as he gets better armour and more heavily-armoured opponents are themselves harder to kill in a straight fight, with Borgia Captains ([[Get Back Here Boss|those that fight you anyway]]) and [[Praetorian Guard|Papal Guards]] needing multiple Hidden Gun shots to kill. To add to this, the Armor of Altaïr saved Ezio from a nasty stabbing at the end of ''2'', while part of {{spoiler|the Cesare fight}} is spent stripping off the boss's armour so he can be properly hurt.

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', Assassinations, Hidden Blade [[Counter Attack]]s and ''Brotherhood'''s new Arrow Storm and Execution moves will one-shot anyone regardless of health. Also, the Captain from ''Brotherhood'' multiplayer is a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] despite wearing full plate. On the other hand, Ezio's damage-taking improves as he gets better armour and more heavily-armoured opponents are themselves harder to kill in a straight fight, with Borgia Captains ([[Get Back Here Boss|those that fight you anyway]]) and [[Praetorian Guard|Papal Guards]] needing multiple Hidden Gun shots to kill. To add to this, the Armor of Altaïr saved Ezio from a nasty stabbing at the end of ''2'', while part of {{spoiler|the Cesare fight}} is spent stripping off the boss's armour so he can be properly hurt.

** They seem to be improving on that with the enemies, as in Revelations the Janissaries cannot be [[One Hit KO|one-hit killed]] by the hidden blade.

* ''[[Tyrian]]'': Once your ship loses its shields, its own armor is what separates you from a very explosive death. On higher difficulties, even ships with the highest armor ratings will fall apart after about a dozen hits.

* ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' - upper end armors like full plate armor are comparatively little more powerful than lesser armors. While a character in full plate in most [[RPG~~|RPGs~~]] can get beat on all day (especially by 'trash' and low level monsters) and not feel it, RO characters in full plate take much more damage than the idea of full plate armor seems to indicate. It is true that armor is upgradeable and you can add 'cards' to the slots, it is ridiculous how little protection the best armors give warriors and tanks.

* ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' - upper end armors like full plate armor are comparatively little more powerful than lesser armors. While a character in full plate in most [[RPG]]s can get beat on all day (especially by 'trash' and low level monsters) and not feel it, RO characters in full plate take much more damage than the idea of full plate armor seems to indicate. It is true that armor is upgradeable and you can add 'cards' to the slots, it is ridiculous how little protection the best armors give warriors and tanks.

* ''[[Deus Ex]]'': straight in the first game. Armored soldiers from UNATCO and Majestic 12 have as many hit points as homeless bums. NSF terrorists are actually weaker.

* An eroge RPG ''[[Lightning Warrior Raidy]]'' has an infamous "Spell" skill that does ''fixed'' damage no matter what kind of armor you're wearing. The stronger the armor late in-game you wear, the more of your speed and evasion are reduced. So people just end ups wearing mid-game armor and rely more on avoiding hits.

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== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Bender's Big Score, the head nudist scammer informs the cast that he was wearing a doom proof ~~vest -- then~~ dolefully repents that he wasn't wearing doom-proof pants.

* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Bender's Big Score, the head nudist scammer informs the cast that he was wearing a doom proof vest—then dolefully repents that he wasn't wearing doom-proof pants.

* [[Looney Tunes|Duck Dodgers]] plays this trope straight in his [[Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century|frst confrontation]] with Marvin the Martin. He smugly announces that he is wearing a disintegration-proof vest, and [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|indeed he is]]; Marvin shoots Dodgers. Dodgers disintegrates. The undamaged vest hangs in mid-air for a moment before plopping onto the pile of Dodger's ashes.

* At the end of the ''[[Ultimate Avengers]]'' movie, when the team fights [[The Hulk]], guess who appears to be doing the least well in the fight? [[Iron Man]]. That's right, the only dude wearing any kind of outfit that would seem useful when fighting something that can rip a tank apart, is the one who seemingly does the least. This becomes somewhat ridicoulous when you realize that [[Captain America (comics)]] (who has enhanced strength and speed but is otherwise entirely human) [[Made of Iron|receives direct hits multiple times and is still conscious at the end of the fight]]. Clearly, Cap knows how to roll with a punch.

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** The Soviet Navy feared the Iowa-class battleships above any other ships in the US fleet because of this. There is a story that they even nicknamed them the "Cockroach Battleships" because, when the Sovs ran simulations, they just wouldn't die.

* Modern body armor, intended to stop bullets, is fairly defenseless against bladed weapons - the fiber weave is designed to stop (or at least slow) relatively blunt objects travelling at high speed, and can be cut or pierced by a sharp edge much like any other cloth. This has been a problem for some, such as prison guards, who wear [[Bulletproof Vest|Bullet Proof Vests]] as part of their standard equipment, but frequently face lower-tech threats than firearms. Stab vests, designed to protect against knives, have the opposite problem of offering no protection against bullets. Fortunately, most modern vest designs try to combine both protections in one way or another.

* During [[World War I]], armies experimented with chain mail and found that it actually made bullet wounds ''worse'' ~~-- it~~ couldn't stop a bullet ''and'' the rings would shatter, shoving more shrapnel into the wound than if the bullet just hit an unarmoured person. However, when hung like a curtain, it proved surprisingly effective at stopping shrapnel, leading to terrifying items like the British [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Splatter_Mask_%28WWI%29.jpg splatter mask] for tank crews.

* During [[World War I]], armies experimented with chain mail and found that it actually made bullet wounds ''worse''—it couldn't stop a bullet ''and'' the rings would shatter, shoving more shrapnel into the wound than if the bullet just hit an unarmoured person. However, when hung like a curtain, it proved surprisingly effective at stopping shrapnel, leading to terrifying items like the British [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Splatter_Mask_%28WWI%29.jpg splatter mask] for tank crews.

* Not the fault of the armor, but human psychology can make armor useless. People tend to react to increased safety by ''taking more risk'', in an unconscious attempt to balance risk versus reward (riskier behavior is offset by safety equipment like armor, resulting in increased reward for the same amount of risk); this is called the [[wikipedia:Peltzman effect|Peltzman effect]]. The problem is that a) risky behavior may transfer the risk to [[Innocent Bystander~~|Innocent Bystanders~~]] rather than the one wearing the safety equipment, and b) people are ''really bad'' at judging risk, meaning that instead of balancing out, safety equipment + risky behavior may actually be significantly ''more'' dangerous than no safety equipment + no risky behavior.

* Not the fault of the armor, but human psychology can make armor useless. People tend to react to increased safety by ''taking more risk'', in an unconscious attempt to balance risk versus reward (riskier behavior is offset by safety equipment like armor, resulting in increased reward for the same amount of risk); this is called the [[wikipedia:Peltzman effect|Peltzman effect]]. The problem is that a) risky behavior may transfer the risk to [[Innocent Bystander]]s rather than the one wearing the safety equipment, and b) people are ''really bad'' at judging risk, meaning that instead of balancing out, safety equipment + risky behavior may actually be significantly ''more'' dangerous than no safety equipment + no risky behavior.