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{{trope}}
▲[[File:improvarmor01_6002.png|link=Alice in Wonderland (Literature)|right]]
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]].
Indicates that the character, at least, doesn't think [[Armour Is Useless]]. Related to [[Pocket Protector]], a protection unknown to the audience [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee|which is therefore much more likely to save your life]].
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Expect to see a lot of this on a [[Scavenger World]]. May be donned as part of a [[Lock and Load Montage]].
[[Bucket Helmet]] is a [[Sub
{{examples|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
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* 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.
* The [[Chainmail Bikini|surprisingly protective]] card "[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=41163 Improvised Armor]" in ''[[Magic the Gathering]]''.▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Deadpool]] once wore a bunch of frozen meat to beat Bullseye. In his own words. "I am the meat."
* An issue of ''[[The Punisher]]'' (one of the Summer Specials back from the late 80's - early 90's) had the titular character fighting an evil school principal with a penchant for handing out guns to his students (don't ask). This (like many fights in schools) gets dragged to the library, where the Punisher decided that to survive the situation, he needed protection. A little duct tape and some textbooks later, we have the glorious invention of '''book armor!'''.
* This is essentially [[Iron Man]]'s origin, although where he gets the material varies from retelling to retelling. Most famously, he used parts of his own stolen missiles to build his armor [[Memetic Mutation|IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]]
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[A
** Homaged in ''[[Back to The Future]] 3'', with a oven door used for the same purpose.
* In ''[[Iron Man (
* In ''[[The
* In ''The Good, the Bad, the Weird'', Tae-goo survives a particularly crazy shootout by putting on a huge, metal diver's helmet.
** In the longer alternate ending we learn he survived the three way shootout by also having an oven door hidden under his jacket in another shout out to ''A Fistful Of Dollars''.
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* In ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]],'' Mr. Hyde uses a steel door in order to block enemy bullets.
== [[Literature]] ==
* 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
* The 'Za Lord's Guard in ''[[
== [[Live
* ''[[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.
** This was deemed plausible by the [[
** 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.
* Several episodes of ''[[Brainiac: Science Abuse]]'' have mannequins dress up in improvised armour based on the setting, and fired at with a slingshot, longbow and crossbow. For example, if war broke out in a home, a mannequin in the kitchen might use a wok as a
* 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).
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* In [[Classical Mythology|Greek Mythology]], Heracles strangled a lion that was terrorizing the countryside, [[Nemean Skinning|skinned it]] ([[Takes One to Kill One|with its own fangs]]), then took its [[Immune to Bullets|impenetrable skin]] for armor. The lion skin became his [[Iconic Item]].
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[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.▼
* Pick a [[Scavenger World]], any scavenger world. One post-apocalyptic ''[[D 20 Modern]]'' setting featured illustrations of thugs using American football shoulder pads for armor and a Stop sign for a shield.▼
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]]
** Done in ''All Flesh Must Be Eaten'', similar to the ''[[D 20 Modern]]'' example above.▼
** In the 3e ''Oriental Adventures''
▲*
* Pick a [[Scavenger World]], any scavenger world.
** ''[[Hero System|Post-Apocalyptic Hero]]'' gives its front cover character a Stop sign shield and a helmet that started life as sporting equipment.
▲* The [[Chainmail Bikini|surprisingly protective]] card "[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=41163 Improvised Armor]" in ''[[Magic:
▲* In the ''Oriental Adventures'' sourcebook for [[Dungeons and Dragons]], 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.
▲* ''[[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.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[
* There are many examples in the [[Fallout]] 'verse, but the most obvious are the Raider armours from Fallout 3. Highlights include using sieves as a bikini, a cow skull as a shoulder pad and an empty shell of a spherical hovering robot as a helmet. In ''[[Fallout]] 3'', Super Mutants wear bits of tire as shoulder guards, while their Behemoths wield car doors as bucklers.
** In the original games, Leather Armor was based on Pre-War designs used for contact sports.
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* Various ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games have pot lids as the cheapest shield.
* In Command and Conquer Generals the GLA has pickup trucks and tanks which can be upgraded by collecting wreckages of destroyed enemy vehicles, which they use as improvised armor.
* In ''[[The Godfather (
* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'' there's a group of mutant hobos called "The Lost" with [[Elite Mooks]] who use various types of armor such as a STOP sign for chest protection and a TV set (with a broken screen) as a helmet.
* ''[[Freedroid RPG]]'' has bucklers made from a robot hull, and [[Item Crafting]] system allows to reinforce existing armor with "add-ons" built from robot parts.
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' had Captain Landon wear [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/0308-wallpapers a riot shield strapped to the body] after he got into an armory. Because "[[Uplifted Animal|uplifted]] [[Everything's Worse with Bears|polar bear]]" is not a common size, and he didn't have time to go anywhere else due to an ongoing coup.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Homer Simpson builds a bear-hunting suit (with [[Literal Ass
* ''[[King of the Hill]]'': Bill does this when Dale is dressed in armor
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* [[Internet Backdraft|Without going into the reasons for it]], U.S. soldiers in Iraq resorted to using "Hillbilly Armor" to reinforce their vehicles for better protection against Improvised Explosive Devices (underside armor was an important first step). Some of their designs were so popular and effective that they became "kits" used throughout the army.
** Used in larger scale in [[World War II]]. Tankers would weld spare tread links onto their tanks or even use sandbags. Later, when shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons became more common, they would use thin metal sheets or wire mesh as so-called slatt-armor to detonate the shaped charges away from the tank's armor.
* [
* Convicted NZ murderer [http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3351986/No-penalty-for-attack-by-Burton Graeme Burton] packed newspapers and magazines under his prison uniform when he stabbed another inmate, quite possibly inspiring the example from ''[[The Wire]]'', above.
* During the [
* Some of the Egyptian protesters against the Mubarak regime were seen sporting helmets made of concrete slabs tied on with rope, and even loaves of bread secured with tape.
* Very popular amongst the [[Society for Creative Anachronism|SCA]] heavy weapons fighters. At least until they purchase real armour or learn armoursmithing themselves.
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[[Category:Improvised Index]]
[[Category:Tropes in Shining Armor]]
[[Category:
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