Pocket Protector: Difference between revisions

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** In the movie 'Curse of the Blood Rubies', Yamcha's history as a thief [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Za3hWHlC8s pays off.]

* In the manga ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', Jotaro survived a storm of knives thrown at him by Dio during a [[Time Stands Still|timestop]] because of his [[Nice Hat|hat]] and several copies of Shonen Jump he had stuffed in his jacket (the fact his stand was able to move for 1 second during the timestop and deflect half of the knives helped, but he still would have died were it not for the hat and magazines).

* In ''[[Detective Conan]]'' {{spoiler|A mahjong tile in Takagi's breast pocket (taken as evidence) stops a bullet. Shiratori even [[~~Lampshade|lampshades~~]] how cliche it is. OTOH, Takagi ''did'' get injured anyway and had to be hospitalized}}

* In ''[[Detective Conan]]'' {{spoiler|A mahjong tile in Takagi's breast pocket (taken as evidence) stops a bullet. Shiratori even [[lampshade]]s how cliche it is. OTOH, Takagi ''did'' get injured anyway and had to be hospitalized}}

** Also, {{spoiler|once Conan almost gets stabbed in the gut by a suspect. He had an amulet with a piece of metal in his pocket (which he borrowed from Heiji), which stopped the knife}}

** And {{spoiler|Megure's [[Nice Hat]] softens a blow to the head given to him with a metal pipe.}}

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* Happens in one early [[Batman]] story featuring Two-Face. Two-Face tosses his coin to decide if he should reform. The coin lands on its edge; stuck in a gap in the floorboards. Two-Face refuses to flip it again and puts the coin away in his breast pocket, saying it is now up to fate to determine if he should be good or evil. When a policeman shoots at Two-Face, the bullet deflects off the coin. When Two-Face looks at the coin, he sees that the bullet struck the scarred side of the coin. He takes this a sign that he is supposed to be a criminal.

* In the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] story arc "Body Count" near the end Casey Jones gets shot near the heart Raphael thinks he's dead and carries his body around with him, it is later revealed that he is alive his lucky Wayne Gretsky autographed hockey puck had been strapped to his chest for such an emergency.

* ''[[Jon Sable Freelance]]'': One of the [[Evil Poacher~~|Evil Poachers~~]] who killed Jon's family is saved from Jon's [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] by the AK-47 he was carrying at chest height. Jon's bullet hits the rifle and the impact is enough to knock the poacher out, leading Jon to assume he is dead.

* ''[[Jon Sable Freelance]]'': One of the [[Evil Poacher]]s who killed Jon's family is saved from Jon's [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] by the AK-47 he was carrying at chest height. Jon's bullet hits the rifle and the impact is enough to knock the poacher out, leading Jon to assume he is dead.

* Used as the origin of the Marvel Noir-verse version of ''[[Luke Cage]]''. Unlike his mainline counterpart he's not really invulnerable, people just think he is because he survived being shot in the chest, which turned out to be the result of the bullets lodging in a flask he was carrying.

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** Also, Ritter does it again with a remote control in ''[[Stay Tuned]]''.

* In ''[[Reckless Kelly]]'', an assassin sent by the villain shoots the hero in the chest with a stupidly big gun, and the bullet is stopped by the tacky oversized crucifix the hero had been wearing as part of a costume for a B-movie he was acting in.

* Subverted in ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]''. Robert Downey Jr is shot by the bad guy and collapses; the love interest is afraid that he's been killed, but wait! He sits up, and pulls out from his pocket that trashy detective novel from earlier in the movie, with a bullet hole in it! But then she realises that, wait a ~~minute -- the~~ bullet hole goes right through. He's been shot in the chest and is in dire need of an ambulance.

* Subverted in ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]''. Robert Downey Jr is shot by the bad guy and collapses; the love interest is afraid that he's been killed, but wait! He sits up, and pulls out from his pocket that trashy detective novel from earlier in the movie, with a bullet hole in it! But then she realises that, wait a minute—the bullet hole goes right through. He's been shot in the chest and is in dire need of an ambulance.

** Though the bullet may have been slowed down by passing through {{spoiler|his partner}} first

* ''[[Sleepy Hollow]]'': Ichabod is saved from Lady Van Tassel's shot by Katrina's book in his jacket.

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* In ''[[The Three Musketeers (1993 film)|The Three Musketeers 1993]]'', Aramis is shot, but his crucifix stops the bullet. He quips, "I told you there's a God!"

* Featured at the climax of a short film at a theme park (Disneyland?) A "please turn off your phone" ad plays, at which point an actor starts walking around talking loudly on his mobile. He's promptly punished by being pulled "into" the film, and cycles through several different genres. He ends up in a medieval battle and is only saved from death by arrow thanks to this trope.

* In ''[[The Fall (film)|The Fall]]'', the Black Bandit tries to shoot his love (because she's engaged to be married to Odious, the [[Best Served Cold|man he's sworn to kill]]), but his bullet is stopped by her heart-shaped locket. It then falls ~~open-- she~~'s been unable to open it for ~~years--and~~ reveals a message left by her father, telling her to marry for no reason other than love. The characters take this as a sign that they should get married.

* In ''[[The Fall (film)|The Fall]]'', the Black Bandit tries to shoot his love (because she's engaged to be married to Odious, the [[Best Served Cold|man he's sworn to kill]]), but his bullet is stopped by her heart-shaped locket. It then falls open—she's been unable to open it for years—and reveals a message left by her father, telling her to marry for no reason other than love. The characters take this as a sign that they should get married.

* In ''[[Gettysburg]]'', Jeff Daniels' character (a Union colonel) is hit and knocked down by a musket ball, but when he gets up he discovers that it merely dented his (''very'' skinny) officers' scabbard (after which he merely comments, "I'll be damned."). This was loosely based on an actual incident which happened to the real Colonel Chamberlain

* Happens twice in ''[[Returner]]''. Miyamoto accidentally shoots Milly when she appears, but she's protected by a metal plate in her jacket. Justified by the fact that she's a time traveler from [[After the End]] and was probably wearing it for just such a reason. Later on, Miyamoto gets shot in the heart but is saved by {{spoiler|the same metal plate, which a further-future version of Milly put in his jacket. Again justified, because Milly knew exactly where and when he was going to get shot (presumably from looking up his coroner's report).}}

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* ''[[Peter Pan]]'': The arrow the Lost Boys shoot at Wendy doesn't kill her because it hits an acorn button Wendy was wearing around her neck after Peter gave it to her as a present.

* In ''The Secret Diary of [[Adrian Mole]], Aged 13¾'', Bert Baxter shows Adrian a pocket Bible with a bullet hole, which, he claims, saved his life in [[World War I]]. Adrian notices that the Bible was printed in 1956.

* Subverted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] novel ''Death and Diplomacy'': a character tells the story of his grandfather, who went away to war wearing a crucifix of great sentimental value. One day, a bullet fired at him hit the ~~crucifix -- which~~ shattered, aggravating a wound that would otherwise not have been lethal.

* Subverted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] novel ''Death and Diplomacy'': a character tells the story of his grandfather, who went away to war wearing a crucifix of great sentimental value. One day, a bullet fired at him hit the crucifix—which shattered, aggravating a wound that would otherwise not have been lethal.

* In ''[[The Dark Tower/The Drawing of the Three|The Drawing of the Three]],'' the second ''[[Dark Tower]]'' book, Jack Mort is saved from a bullet by his cigarette lighter; the lighter, however, shatters, and Mort's shirt catches fire. Five minutes later, Roland makes him jump in front of a train.

** [[Stephen King]] also used this in his early novel ''Rage'': the protagonist survives being shot by a police sniper because he dropped his locker-padlock into his breast pocket. He suffers shrapnel-damage and severe bruising.

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* In ''[[Chuck]]'' (2007), the titular character gets shot in his nerdy pocket protector, and the shot doesn't go through it. Luckily, it was only a tranquilizer dart.

* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] nonsensically in the pilot of ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'', in which Fry shows the undamaged cigarette case his grandfather carried into battle in World War II. His grandfather was shot in the wrong spot for the case to save him. "Had he been wearing the case on his temple," notes Fry, "it would have a nasty dent in it and I'd be alive today."

* The ''[[Myth Busters]]'' pretty much proved this trope was a myth, at least with modern firearms in mind. They tested normal everyday items like a book, a deck of cards, and a Zippo lighter and showed that they were all ineffective at stopping bullets. They also tested police/sheriff badges (outcome depends on how the badge is ~~made -- they~~ put holes in two test badges, but the third type stopped a handgun round). In another episode, they tried the same with knives. A book, or a thick pile of paper (eg. money) can save you. It takes about 60 or so sheets thick to stop the hardest hit the build team managed.

* The ''[[Myth Busters]]'' pretty much proved this trope was a myth, at least with modern firearms in mind. They tested normal everyday items like a book, a deck of cards, and a Zippo lighter and showed that they were all ineffective at stopping bullets. They also tested police/sheriff badges (outcome depends on how the badge is made—they put holes in two test badges, but the third type stopped a handgun round). In another episode, they tried the same with knives. A book, or a thick pile of paper (eg. money) can save you. It takes about 60 or so sheets thick to stop the hardest hit the build team managed.

** In another episode, they tested urban legends involving stories of items that stopped bullets. A laptop computer wouldn't, unless the bullet hit the battery. A hair weave didn't even slow the thing down; if that story was close to true, the bullet probably ricocheted around inside the woman's car and then got caught in the weave once it was too slow to be dangerous. Three pepperoni pizzas in a deliveryman's warming bag blocked ''most'' of the pellets from a shotgun firing birdshot, so you might survive (as was claimed by a pizza delivery boy). Buckshot at the same range, however, punched through easily.

* In ''[[The Magnificent Seven (TV series)|The Magnificent Seven]]'' TV series, Ezra Standish pulls this in two consecutive episodes. In one, the bullet hits a diamond he had in his shirt pocket (to his great distress), and in the other, it fails to penetrate a satchel of money he had under his coat.

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== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In one ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' arc, one of the good doctor's patients is shot by the velociraptor-riding ''banditos'', and appears to be bleeding to death. However, in the next strip, it is revealed that the bullet had been stopped by a ''ketchup packet'' in his breast pocket.

* ''[[Shortpacked]]'' once had Robin [http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=177 saved] from a bullet by chest insignia of her Batman costume. If a bright, thick and almost two hands big [[Highly-~~Conspicuous_Uniform~~|Bullseye Badge]] counts as unexpected protection.

* ''[[Shortpacked]]'' once had Robin [http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=177 saved] from a bullet by chest insignia of her Batman costume. If a bright, thick and almost two hands big [[Highly-Conspicuous Uniform|Bullseye Badge]] counts as unexpected protection.

* There's a non-canonical ''[[Goblins]]'' strip in which Dies-Horribly is saved from a stray arrow by a very thick book.