Bulletproof Vest: Difference between revisions

When bullets are stopped by things that cover very little area in addition to being unlikely to be effective if hit, yet do so by sheer force of sentimentality, that's a [[Pocket Protector]]. [[Bulletproof Human Shield]] is the trope when bullets are stopped by an unwilling [[Mook]] or bystander. If a vest is worn by a [[Badass in A Nice Suit]], it will overlap with [[Waistcoat of Style]].

 

 

== Anime ==

** Another [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] story plays with this trope. Batman and Robin remember a case of three brothers who wore steel chainmail vests. {{spoiler|The Dynamic Duo fight one brother in a junkyard. He's hoisted by an electromagnet and killed when dropped on scrap metal as a goon unwittingly shut it off. A later fight at the docks has the second brother drown; the vest made him too heavy to float. The last brother, who wanted to go straight when the others found him, left the gang. He died when he took his vest off to connect downed powerlines to help an emergency surgery and was gunned down by a vengeful goon. Batman and Robin acknowledge the last brother's good nature before he dies.}}

** Yet another [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] story Batman comic subverts this trope. {{spoiler|Batman is shot by a one-time villain who has a Napoleon complex and tries to conquer the world using a dirigible equipped with death rays. Batman escapes and is later seen nursing a wound from where he was shot. He even comments he lost a lot of blood.}}

* Marvel's [[Punisher]] originally used a similar trick, wearing heavy body-armor with a white skull that drew attention - and fire - away from his head (not to mention that the symbol's "teeth" section is a handy place to have ammo clips). Later incarnations are simply too [[Badass]] to die.

** Spoofed with his parody Frank Casket (nom de guerre: the Pulveriser) in the parody comic ''What The''.

* ''[[Snow Crash]]''. [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Hiro]] [[Meaningful Name|Protagonist]] has a full set of motorbike "leathers" made of Arachnofiber, which appears to be Kevlar [[In Space]]. While wearing them, he is hit in the back by a volley of small arms fire, which he describes as like being massaged with several ball-peen hammers. And, of course, there is Raven, whose monomolecular-edged glass daggers and spears slice right through kevlar armor.

** Spider silk is impressive stuff. Bullet proof vests woven from almost any sort of silk-like material would put steel and kevlar to shame... but such materials are still totally impractical to make in bulk at the moment.

* In the [[Adam Hall]] spy novel ''[[Quiller|Quiller's Run]]'' the protagonist runs into a problem when he wears an anti-knife vest to a confrontation with a villainess who, up till now, has used knives -- only she [[Oh Crap|pulls out a revolver]] and blasts him six times in the chest. Fortunately the vest still stops the bullets.

** So, basically, she [[Never Bring a Knife To A Fist Fight|brought a gun to a knife-fight]], eh?