Gang of Hats: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A gang or group of people who possess some sort of specific gimmick that sets them apart from the other gangs.

== Anime & Manga ==

 

* In ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', a fair amount of these are at large, especially in the early story arcs. More notable ones include the [[Knight Templar|Golan]] [[Armies Are Evil|army]] and the [[Big Badass Wolf|Fang Clan]].

 

*** After breaking up they form different cliques: Sons of the Batman, with bat facial markings; Nixons, with [[Nixon Mask|Tricky Dick masks]] and grey suits; and Joker wannabees with green hair and lipstick. Two join up with the Joker's missus, who has taken to wearing Nazi-fetish gear, so they wear brown shirts and jackboots.

** ''Batman, Inc.'' introduces Joe Average and the Average Joes, themed after blue-collar work.

* The real life Mods and Rockers are awesomely parodied as the Originals and Dirt in the graphic novel ''The Originals''.

* ''Marshal Law'' features Ganggreen, a gang of combat veteran superhero toughs in who all wear green (except a member called Overdose, who wears black). They all seem to have personal gimmics as well.

** Partially subverted in [[The Dark Knight Trilogy]]. Not all of the Joker's henchmen wear clown masks.

* The Axe Gang in ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'' all wield axes and perform choreographed dancing in perfect unison. This is more due to Brother Sum's personal style than any consensus among the membership.

* The movie ''[[Mystery Men]]'' has several such gangs: [[Disco Dan|the Disco Boys]] all dress as disco dancers, the Frat Boys are all college fraternity members (known for their lethal hazings), etc. The scene in which Casanova Frankenstein rallies the different gangs together is a parody of a scene from the film ''The Warriors''. When the heroes are attacked by the Disco Boys, they tease them for their hat-inappropriate weapons (guns, a lead pipe). "What are you, the Disco Plumber?"

* The gangs in ''[[Gangs of New York]]'' show signs of this. In fact the gang name (and slang term) "plug ugly" comes from their hats. "Dead Rabbits" comes from a Gaelic word that means something around the lines of "tough guy", but someone misheard it and it stuck. It's also [[Truth in Television]] (or literature and (later) film) -- the gangs in the novel are [[Flanderization|Flanderizations]] of actual gangs from the 19th Century. The Dead Rabbits would actually carry a dead rabbit on a stick when they invaded a rival gang's turf. That's how you knew they were there for blood.

** Much more disturbing is the fact that the Hell-Cat Maggie character (that girl in the film with the teeth filed into points and who would fight with iron talons tied to her fingers)... is almost straight [[Truth in Television]]. She didn't routinely bite patrons' ears off and keep them in a jar behind the bar, though. That would be [[wikipedia:Gallus Mag|Gallus Mag]]'s schtick. Old school gangsters did ''not'' fuck around.

* ''[[Mad Max|The Road Warrior]]'', of course. Leather and black-clad mohawked punks versus the mostly white-clad defenders!

* In the original ''[[Death Race 2000]]'', each car has a theme that is carried over to the driver and navigator's dress and persona. The [[R Emake]] used ethnic prison gangs instead, due to its [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] setting.

* The Mexican, partying Rojos and the European, dignified Baxters in ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]''.

* In ''[[Kill Bill]]'', O-Ren's gang The Crazy 88 all wear identical black suits and black domino masks. The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad counts to a much lesser extent, because they appear to only follow a theme in their code names.

* In the second ''[[Circle of Magic|Circle Opens]]'' book ''Street Magic,'' Briar comes across a number of gangs that use different ways to identify themselves. The main antagonists of the novel belong to a gang that uses a garnet nose ring for identification (provided by [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Lady Zenadia}}).

* In Bruce Bethke's novel ''Headcrash'', the protagonist runs into a gang dressed as high school athlete stereotypes, called the Letterjocks.

* The novel ''Aiki'' by John Gilbert includes a number of gangs based around martial arts themes as well as a gang of Drag Queen Warriors.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* The PCH Bike Club from ''[[Veronica Mars]]''. All Latino bikers from the wrong side of the tracks, all high schoolers (or at least high school age).

* Half of the stables seen in [[Professional Wrestling]]. For example, WWE has had The Spirit Squad (a gang of male cheerleaders) and Demolition (whose uniform included facepaint and bondage gear), WCW had The Varsity Club (a stable built like a high-school/college sports team) and The Dungeon of Doom (filled with ridiculous, horror-movie-style gimmicks), and TNA once had The Flying Elvises (a group of [[Spot Monkey]] Elvis impersonators).

* Witnessed in [[Power Rangers RPM]], although, apart from the Mob that Ziggy once tried to join, they mostly seem like a bunch of sad sack clowns. Probably [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that most of the world was essentially nuked in the [[Backstory]]; powerful crime syndicates just wouldn't have the support structure they need in Corinth.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Van Saar: Utilitarian tech-lovers dressed in overalls.

** Escher: The [[Amazon Brigade]] with punky hair and knives. Needless to say, they do not get on with the Goliaths.

** Orlock: Fairly generic street gangers with bandanas.

* One of the coolest things about the D&D campaign module "Night's Dark Terror" is that every one of the several tribes of goblins, orcs, gnolls and forth is a [[Gang of Hats]], with its own distinctive garb, weapons, tactics, and territory. Even the culture of some tribes is described.

* ''[[Ninja Burger]]'' feeds off this trope, with the eponymous burger-delivering ninjas competing against other [[Gang of Hats]] fast food delivery companies like [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Pirate Pizza, Samurai Burger, Banditos Burritos, etc.]]

* The ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games before San Andreas used this to an extent, it kinda dropped as the series progressed. Or rather, it was a curve. The original game had pretty nondescript organized crime, GTA 2 had a circus of gimmicks, GTA 3 had some thematic stuff, Vice City had ethnic gangs that emphasized the ethnic part, and in San Andreas, the street gangs (Grove Street Families, Ballas, Varrios los Aztecas, Los Santos Vagos, Rifa) all identify by color scheme. This is also the first game where the different ethnicities aren't united as one gang (for example, there are several black and Latino gangs vying for territory control and power). ''GTA 4'' expanded this even further.

* The various enemy gangs from ''[[Jet Set Radio]]'' definitely qualify. The Love Shockers are all (female) jilted lovers, the Poison Jam are all huge guys who are really into monster movies (to the point where they all wear monster masks), and the Noise Tanks are all techies who mess around with electronic and mechanical gadgets.

* ''Bully'', being essentially ''[[Grand Theft Auto|GTA]]'' [[Recycled in Space|in High School]], naturally uses this too, with the various 'factions' of Bullworth Academy. The Preppies all wear Aquaberry-brand sweaters, the Jocks all wear letter jackets or letter sweaters, the Greasers slick their hair back and wear leather or denim jackets, the Nerds are all either underweight or overweight and wear garish green sweaters...

* [[River City Ransom]]. For each gang, all members wear the same color of shirt, and their names follow a trend implied by the name of the gang.

* The different chapters of the ''Inferno'' gang in ''Spikeout'', a "white trash" crew, a gang who all wear camouflage trousers, a group who are all sturdy guys in motorcycle leathers, an all-black-all-poser crew, a bunch of guys in Hawaiian shirts, an all-Chinese Kung Fu gang, an all-Japanese Yakuza gang, a gang dressed in [[Batter Up|sports gear]]etc.

* The various gangs of ''[[Manhunt]]'' (the Skins, the Smileys, etc.) are a less light-hearted example.

** Frequently Lampshaded by the gang members - "Who do you think has cooler outfits, Team Magma or Team Aqua?" "You can't be a member of Team Magma, you're not dressed the part!"

** All the evil teams wear the Dark-Type hat, except Cipher. Their type of choice is usually [[The Corruption|Shadow]].

** Team Galactic wears no hats, but their uniform is quite distinct.

* Both [[Saints Row]] titles, being Grand Theft Auto clones [[Refuge in Audacity|without shame]], follow the color-coding scheme for the various street gangs. In the second one, you can even ''choose'' the Saints' hat.

** To a degree, Caesar's Legion's roman costumes serves as uniforms (Caesar dreams of the Roman Empire [[Recycled in Space|IN AMERICA!]], so roman costumes are just part of the package), and naturally the NCR Rangers and ordinary NCR forces having uniforms are to be expected - they ''are'' part of the army of an organised state. The Great Khans, on the other hand, are merely a bunch of organized raiders/a tribe with a theme of Generic Eastern Horde (their historical knowledge aren't up to snuff for anything more unless you personally educate their leader).

** There's also the Three Families of Vegas. The Chairmen all emulate the [[Camp]] of the [[Rat Pack]], including [[Jive Turkey|speaking like them.]] The White Glove Society are all pompous [[Upperclass Twit|Upper Class Twits]] who believe they're better than others and wear [[White Mask of Doom|White Masks of Doom]] for the mysterious allure (when in actuality, it just makes them really creepy). The Omertas are essentially [[The Mafia]] and are all rude and foul-mouthed.

 

== Web Original ==

== Western Animation ==

 

** They're also emulating the Joker, with one of them (it's actually a bunch of not necessarily connected gangs all over Gotham) lead by a guy named J-Man who blatantly copies the Joker's appearance. [[The Movie]] had one of them run by the ''real'' Joker.

** Their rivals are the "T"s, who all have tattoos of the letter T on their faces (oddly enough, making them look like the super''hero'' [[Justice Society of America|Mr. Terrific]]) and names that end in "ty". Considerably lamer by comparison.