Improvised Armour: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A [[Crazy Prepared]] or [[Disaster Scavengers]] character makes [[Bulletproof Vest|body armour]] or a [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|shield]] out of [[MacGyvering|materials to hand]], quite possibly to back up an [[Improvised Weapon]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Advertising]] ==

* An advert for Strongbow cider had a guy giving a [[Braveheart]]-esque [[Rousing Speech]] to massed ranks of tradesmen with suitably working class [[Improvised Weapon]]ry and armour - the shield wall is made up of satellite dishes and dustbin lids, various "soldiers" are armed with spirit levels, paint rollers and garden tools, and most of them are wearing hard hats.

* A [[Scavenger World]] example: in ''[[Japan]]'' (the manga by Kentaro Miura), body armor is cobbled together from available junk. The main character has an old tire as a pauldron.

* In ''[[Holyland]]'' when Masaki fights Taka the former uses a knuckleduster as an impromptu mini-shield. Yuu also uses books as bracers.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]],'' Mr. Hyde uses a steel door in order to block enemy bullets.

 

* Mentioned in one of [[Andrew Vachss]]'s Burke books. A prisoner who suspects he's going to get attacked will stuff as much newspaper as he can under his clothes. It won't totally stop a shiv, but even a centimetre or inch less of penetration can make the difference between a trip to the hospital and a trip to the morgue.

* As depicted above, in [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland|Through the Looking Glass]]'', Tweedledum and Tweedledee get Alice to help them dress in this sort of armor before fighting a not-very-lethal "battle".

* The 'Za Lord's Guard in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' have this.

 

* ''[[The Wire]]'', when Omar ends up in prison he [[Duct Tape for Everything|duct-tapes]] several thick books to his body before going to shank an enemy as an example to the other inmates.

* Unable to acquire an armored vehicle, Michael Westen of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' once filled the insides of an SUV's doors with phone books.

** Which was explained in Westen's voice-over: "You don't want to skimp on ballistic glass."

** In a later episode where Michael's in prison, he and another prisoner fashion temporary armor from several library books.

* In ''[[The Lost Room]]'', the protagonist uses the Coat as body armor, as Objects are indestructible. He is still hurt (unlike actual body armor, the Coat does nothing to spread the impact of a bullet).

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[GURPS]]: High-Tech'' has rules for homemade armor. Buckets can be made into a plastic ''lorica segmentata'' strong enough to provide noticeable protection from a shotgun blast.

** In the 3e ''Oriental Adventures'' (effectively d20 ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]''), Nezumi are fond of making makeshift armor out of whatever they can cobble together, like tower shields made of the shells of turtle-like monsters called Kappa.

** One post-apocalyptic ''[[D20 Modern]]'' setting featured illustrations of thugs using American football shoulder pads for armor and a Stop sign for a shield.

** Done in ''All Flesh Must Be Eaten'', similar to the ''[[D20 Modern]]'' example above.

** ''[[Hero System|Post-Apocalyptic Hero]]'' gives its front cover character a Stop sign shield and a helmet that started life as sporting equipment.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

[[Category:Improvised Index]]

[[Category:Tropes in Shining Armor]]