Clingy Costume/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character wears a costume or uniform that can't be removed.

  • Straight: AwesomeAlice, defender of Tropeopolis, gets her powers from a magic costume that won't come off.
  • Exaggerated: AwesomeAlice, defender of Tropeopolis, gets her powers from a magic 18-foot-tall suit of Scary Impractical Armor that won't come off.
  • Justified:
    • Awesome Alice's costume is just the visible part of the bionic enhancements that grant her powers, and as such is permanently bonded to her flesh.
    • The costume is evil and needs to parasitically fuse to and corrupt a noble-minded individual to enhance its malevolence.
    • The suit of Powered Armour incorporates a life-support system keeping her alive.
  • Inverted:
    • AwesomeAlice, defender of Tropeopolis, gets her powers from a magic costume... that she can't put on.
    • Alternatively, AwesomeAlice gets her powers from a costume that won't stay on.
    • AwesomeAlice's powers are weakened by any of the above costume-types.
    • AwesomeAlice has to be naked for her powers to work.
  • Subverted: While the costume's previous owners couldn't remove it, Alice discovers that it easily comes off if she whistles "Achy Breaky Heart."
  • Double Subverted:
    • The next time she tries to remove the costume, Alice discovers that "Achy Breaky Heart" has no effect, so she has to try other country-western songs to find one that will work. None of them seem to work.
    • Alice discovers that if she ever puts the suit back on again, it really will be unremovable.
  • Parodied: AwesomeAlice can't remove the costume because the zipper is stuck.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Alice's inability to remove her costume endangers her by threatening to reveal her Secret Identity.
    • Being unable to ever remove a bit of clothing causes all sorts of hygiene issues for Alice, culminating in nasty skin infections and the like.
    • Two Words: Potty Emergency
  • Reconstructed:
    • Alice's super outfit grants her healing powers, letting her bypass the usual effects of wearing a piece of clothing constantly.
    • Alice's costume can transform into a fashion accessory (which is still unremovable) when not in "active" use, thereby allowing her to preserve her Secret Identity.
  • Zig Zagged:
    • The suit's clinginess is something of a Yo-Yo Plot Point. At times it's been so important as to force Alice to live her life in hiding, only coming out to do hero work. But at others it's only required a simple ritual or invocation to remove it, and occasionally the whole idea has been Hand Waved away or ignored entirely.
    • The suit seems to have a mind of its own, in the manner of an Empathic Weapon. Sometimes it won't let her remove it, sometimes it won't let her put it on, sometimes it's generally cooperative, sometimes it restricts which powers it wants to grant her...
  • Averted: AwesomeAlice, defender of Tropeopolis, wears a fancy superhero outfit. When going off duty in her secret identity, she takes the costume off.
  • Enforced: The costume is highly Stripperiffic, and having Alice wear it all the time is great for ratings.
  • Lampshaded: "With great powers comes great inconvenience."
  • Invoked: Alice and her friend Susan find a costume that grants superpowers. Alice takes the first turn wearing it. When Susan asks for her turn, Alice claims the suit won't come off, so she doesn't have to share it.
  • Defied: Alice finds a suit that grants superpowers. Before putting it on, she studies it carefully, to be sure she'll be able to take it off later.
  • Discussed: "I'm not wearing that thing! It's probably going to be cursed or something and I won't be able to take it off!"
  • Conversed: "The real reason she can't remove the Stripperiffic costume is so there's more Fan Service."
  • Played for Laughs: They bicker.

Alice: "Get off me, you pervert!"
B'ob: "You're the one inside me without permission!"

Alice: "Well, dissassemble so I can get out of you!"

B'ob: "Too bad, I'm stuck as well as you are!"

Alice: "Gods Dammit."

Ad Nauseum.

  • Played for Drama:
    • Alice, trapped in a suit of armor, is slowly being driven mad because the only tactile sensation she can experience is the pain from several skin conditions.
    • The armor's malevolence is corroding her noble spirit.
  • Plot Foundation: Alice and B'ob goes through a 25-episode /50-issue quest to get the suit off. Each new bit of scrollwork allows her to take the piece it's attached to off, but B'ob may use it as if it's still attached to him/ it. The bits without scrollwork are still stuck to Alice, and the decor attaches to the gauntlets and legs first, leaving the breastplate, fauld, and helm for last, much to B'ob's dismay.

Back to Clingy Costume. Wait... it won't take me back? Oh Crap I'm stuck!

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