Rule of Cool: Difference between revisions

The [['''Rule of Cool]]''' is another principle that seeks to dispel arguments among fans over implausibility in fiction. It has been cited by animation director Steve Loter (of ''[[Kim Possible]], [[Clerks the Animated Series]], Tarzan,'' and ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'') in response to questions from fans attempting to justify temporary breaches in logical consistency. It is a complement to [[Bellisario's Maxim]] and the [[MST3K Mantra]].

Of [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|scientific laws]] that this trope circumvents, the [[Law of Inverse Recoil|third law of motion]] is probably the most frequently revoked, with the [[Square-Cube Law|square-cube law]] probably a close second.

You will need to refer to [[The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide Toto Cool]].

* [[Everything's Better Withwith Dinosaurs]]

* [[Everything's Better Withwith Spinning]]

* [[Everything's Deader Withwith Zombies]]

* [[Human Pincushion]]

* [[New Rules Asas the Plot Demands]]

* [[Saved Byby the Awesome]]

* [[Sharpened to Aa Single Atom]]

* [[Squat's in Aa Name]]

* [[Snap to Thethe Side]]

* [[Stepping Stones in Thethe Sky]]

* [[The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide Toto Cool]]

* [[WalkWalking Onon Water]]

* [[Zeppelins Fromfrom Another World]]

=== {{examples|Series that exist because of this rule ===:}}

{{quote| '''Scientist:''' Hi! You booked a flight and the price went down, so here's an Orbitz Price Assurance check for the difference.<br />

'''Guy:''' Thanks! But why didn't you just mail it?<br />

* This [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbD0sV5KZlU Hahn Super Dry advertisement] runs on this rule. "Super goes in, ''Super Dry'' comes out."

== Anime &and Manga ==

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' can be best described as the Rule Of Cool Incarnate. ''Everything'' the characters or mechs do, and even the laws of physics themselves, are subject to [[Rule of Cool]]. The fight scenes especially make absolutely no logical sense whatsoever, but it really doesn't matter because they're so awesome. ''Simon and {{spoiler|Viral}} once actually kill enemies '''by the [[Pure Awesomeness|sheer awesome]] they radiate, for goodness sake!!!'''''

** In the same vein, ''[[Double K (Webcomic)|Double K]]'', the buddy cop version of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', seems to combine how Rule Of Cool driven both types of shows are. The result is as amazing as you think.

* One word (or three): ''[[Gao Gai GarGaoGaiGar]]''. What else can you say about a series where a cyborg combines with an alien robot lion, a bullet train, a drill car, and a stealth fighter to form a [[Humongous Mecha|Humonguous Robot]] that uses a [[Hyperspace Mallet]] capable of turning whatever it strikes into light particles? And of course, the series features a rather famous [[Memetic Mutation]] to [[Lampshade Hanging|explain it all]]: "With courage, 1% becomes 100%!"

** Said [[Hyperspace Mallet]] [[Took a Level Inin Badass|takes a level in badass]]. Yes, it is possible to do so.

* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' -- where—where do we start? A cast consisting entirely of [[Badass|badassesbadass]]es, rounded out by a [[Dark Action Girl|anti-heroine]] who is able to backflip seven feet into the air, shoot three people dead mid-jump and has the vision range of a chameleon? A torpedo boat performing a joust against a gunship -- andgunship—and winning by using a boat-wreck as a ramp and torpedoing it ''mid-air''? A one-eyed seventy year old nun who runs a gun-smuggling [[Corrupt Church|'church of violence']] and whose weapon of choice is [[Hand Cannon|a golden Desert Eagle she fires one handed]]? An [[Implacable Man|invincible terminator]] ''[[Meido|maid]]'' with a [[Parasol of Pain|shotgun umbrella]]?

* In an episode of ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', the Major one-handedly fires a enormous .50-caliber sniper rifle and reloads the bolt-action by using her knee and the force of the recoil. Why one-handed? Because she's ''missing her other arm.'' Even considering the fact that she is a full-on cyborg, the scene borders on absurd. But is it jaw-droppingly ''awesome''? Yes, oh yes, oh yes....

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', if examined with a critical eye, would collapse under the weight of its [[Fridge Logic]]... if not for how it essentially ''created'' the [[Rule of Cool]]-based [[Shonen]] series. It's hard to complain about the implausibility of the premise when you're trying to retrieve your jaw following the fight scenes.

* ''[[Karas]]'' is the [[Sentai]] series that ''[[Super Sentai|Power Rangers]]'' wishes it could be; it ''runs'' on [[Rule of Cool]]. How else can you explain the ludicrously overpowered kick-arse hero who can transform into a jet and a car to combat the rise of blood-drinking [[Conspicuous CG]] cyborg demons?

* Jack Rakan of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' appears to have based his entire fighting style on this. His moves include summoning a building-sized sword, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090211103052/http://www.mangafox.com/page/manga/read/71/mahou_sensei_negima/chapter.67554/page.13/ surfing on a sword], and ''shattering a magical pocket dimension just by being awesome.'' It's repeatedly lampshaded by other characters.

{{quote| '''Chamo:''' This shouldn't be physically possible.<br />

'''Jack:''' It just takes a little spirit.<br />

and<br />

** Really, a good chunk of the series is covered by either [[Rule of Cool]] or [[Rule of Funny]].

* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Lelouch constantly uses [[Rule of Cool]] to his advantage. At one point, he even lampshades it saying that people don't give a damn about reason, but they can't resist miracles. However, this is more a case of [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] among characters than among the audience.

* ''[[Appleseed]]'' takes to [[Rule of Cool]] to new heights, especially the fight scenes in second CGI movie ("Appleseed Ex Machina"), which opens and closes with combat sequences that would make a Cirque du Soleil-trained Green Beret turn flushed with jealousy and admiration.

* ''[[Burst Angel]]'' provides great examples for this... particularly, its main character Jo, an awesome fighter, even if not sociable at all, who can pilot a mecha as if it was her own body, do incredible stunts with weapons, and save her damsel in distress.

* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s character designs and animation make for superbly awesome coolness that definitely fall under the [[Rule of Cool]], not to mention being chock-full of martial arts, scythe-spinning and slicing through things at just about every given opportunity.

* ''[[One Piece]]'' ''loves'' this. Everything not covered by [[Rule of Cool]] is covered by [[Rule of Funny]] or [[It Runs Onon Nonsensoleum]]...and several characters specifically invoke this trope, such as Luffy gaining power from a [[Funny Afro]] or Garp bursting through a wall because it's cooler than using the door. Particularly interesting is that [[One Piece]] pretty much ignores all laws of physics...except when realism (or at least more than most comics manage) ''makes it more awesome,'' such as its treatment of [[Harmless Freezing]].

* In ''[[Bio MegaBiomega]]'', for its special forces [[Mega Corp|Toha Heavy Industries]] makes a ''folding'' gun that shoots ''hypersonic'' projectiles using ''brain waves''. With this thing, Zoichi takes out a handful of intercontinental ballistic missiles within a few minutes of launch.

* ''[[Black Jack (Manga)|Black Jack]]''. Tezuka certainly does not [[You Fail Biology Forever|fail biology]], that sure didn't stop him from making up crazy new stuff for the titular hero to deal with. Like extracting a parasite from his intestines ''while under attack by dingoes''.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Brave Police J-Decker (Anime)|Brave Police J-Decker]].'' Three of the main robots eventually combine to form a [[Humongous Mecha|bigger robot]] called Build Tiger -- whichTiger—which, appropriately enough, has a large tiger face in its chest. When asked why, the designer states: "Because it looks cool!"

* The anime adaptation of [[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]] has this to thank for at least one difference from the original visual novel. In the game's Fate storyline (which the anime is primarily based on), one of the main villains of the series, Gilgamesh, approaches Saber and Shiro. After severely wounding Shiro, Saber launches a series of attacks at Gilgamesh, which he shrugs off with his armor, averting [[Armor Is Useless]]. In the anime, this is replaced by Gilgamesh summoning swords from his Noble Phantasm, the Gate of Babylon, so that they block the path of Saber's swings, a method much more visually appealing than just having him stand there and take it.

* [[Panty and& Stocking Withwith Garterbelt (Anime)|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]] basically runs on this and fan service. The first two title characters' weapons are literally panties and stockings which turn into guns and swords respectively. They're also foul mouthed angels obsessed with sex and sugar, respectively.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Ds5D's]]'' was practically built on Rule of Cool, especially in Season 3. How else do you explain a duel around a star on motorcycles? Or a duel flying under a [[Colony Drop|colossal floating city that was about to crash into another city]]? Or, as some eloquently put it, [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series|CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES]].

* Come on, have we really forgotten ''[[Hellsing]]''? ''HELLSING''!? It arguably uses half of the [[Rule of Cool]] Tropes, and each ''chapter'' manages to take it [[Up to Eleven]] (with each novel taking it [[Serial Escalation]].)

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children]]'', the fight sequences (long enough that you can consider the other scenes "non-fight sequences") consist entirely of "cool", and little to no realism. Just a few examples:

* [[Ben -To]]. Apparently, half priced box lunches are enough of a reason to kick other people's asses, not that we care anyway.

* Pretty much the reason for the existence of superheroes in general. [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] became Mr. [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]] during the forties and fifties because it fulfilled [[Rule of Cool]] for the target demographic. This is also the reason [[Batman]] will always have a [[Tyrannosaurus Rex|T. Rex]] and a giant penny in the Batcave, even as he shifts between [[Darker and Edgier]] and [[Lighter and Softer]]. Damn near every superpower or fantastic element needs [[Rule of Cool]] to shield it from an onslaught of [[Fridge Logic|logic-wielding refrigerators]], although occasionally a few hits will get through, usually aimed at Superman's [[Clark Kenting|disguise]] or how [[Spider-Man]] can stick to surfaces.

** However, sometimes this [[Rule of Cool]] will team-up with the [[Fridge Logic|Fridges]] to produce honestly [[Fridge Brilliance|brillaint]] answers to superhuman mechanics.

** Alot of the recent moves in the DCU have been because of this. ''[[Blackest Night]]'' with it's [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Zombie Lantern Superheroes]], [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] suddenly being the general of a 1000+ Kryptonian army, and so on. The name of the game lately is more more more, perhaps as a callback to the [[Silver Age]] influences that have crept back in to the [[Modern Age]].

* The whole premise of ''[[Godyssey]]''. The Greek pantheon appears before Jesus on the cross and demands that he stop mocking divinity by renouncing the low and filthy mortals he serves. Jesus responds by removing himself from the cross and '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131112113013/http://www.comicsbulletin.com/rage/111195363490019.htm beating the shit out of them all]'''.

* This trope explains ''[[Rex The Wonder Dog|Rex, The Wonder Dog]]'' far better than anything else ever could. We're talking a dog who kills dinosaurs with atom bombs here.

* The legendary ''[[Doom (Comic Book)|Doom]] comic'' features the ultimate gut-tearing, demon-shooting, [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner|semi-witty-quipping soldier]]. His cause is just, his faith is strong, and his gun is [[BFGBig Freaking Gun|very, very large]].

* ''[[Super Dinosaur]]'' How else can one explain a series about a T-rex who wears battle armors to fight dinosaur mutants armed with [[BFG|BFGs]]s or [[BFS|BFSs]]s?

* In the ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' fan fic ''[[PRIMARCHS (Fanfic)|PRIMARCHS]]'', Everything the titular Primarchs do is this trope. Using skyscrapers as swords? Drop kicking the moon on someone? Using the [[Star Wars|Death Star]] as a baseball bat? Having [[Power Armor]] which doubles as a [[Chainmail Bikini]]? Dissing the authors of the work? Oh Yeah, PRIMARCHS loves this trope.

* ''[[Thirty30 Hs (Fanfic)"H"s|HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH]]'' freely dispenses with both the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' canon and narrative logic wherever it can conceive of something ten times more awesome.

* Appears to be a fundamental Law of Nature in the universe of ''[[Undocumented Features (Fanfic)|Undocumented Features]]''.

* ''[[Six String Samurai (Film)|Six -String Samurai]]''. After the Russians nuke everything, [[Elvis]] becomes King of the remains of Lost Vegas. A samurai [[Buddy Holly (Music)|Buddy Holly]] battles [[Guns N' Roses (Music)|Slash]] to claim his throne. "Only one man can kill so many Russians. Bring his guitar to me!"

* Um, ''[[Crank (Film)|Crank]]'' anyone?

* The canonical definition for this is the utterly preposterous premise of ''[[The Matrix]],'' in which robots farm humans for power, using a computer generated reality to placate their minds. This ignores both the first and the second laws of thermodynamics, but who cares? ''Robots'', man! Hey, Neo draws his sunglasses ''before he starts to fight Smith''. THAT is the [[Rule of Cool]] in action.

** The Agents (and later Neo's) ability to [[Dodge the Bullet|dodge bullets]] is never replicated to dodging much slower punches and kicks. This is due to [[Rule of Cool]], because if they did the fights would last all of five seconds and be unbelievably one-sided.

* ''[[GoldeneyeGoldenEye (Filmfilm)|GoldeneyeGoldenEye]]'': The [[Chase Scene]]. Yes, [[Tank Goodness|that chase scene]].

* Either that or the ''[[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]]'' movie, ''Revenge of the Fallen'' even more so. Let's be honest, there is no other reason for these films to exist or for anyone to watch them except that [[Transforming Mecha|Giant Transforming Robots]] are inherently cool. It could be argued that [[Michael Bay]]'s entire career rests on this trope.

** Darth Maul contributes almost nothing to the plot, but he doesn't need to. He has a red-and-black tattooed face, a circle of horns, and the only double-bladed lightsaber to be featured in the films.

** Remember when Darth Maul was dead? No you don't because he survived, managed to escape to another planet undetected during a planetary crisis, and became part spider cyborg before getting normal cyborg legs.

** ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars|Clone Wars]]'' uses this even more. For example, you once see the same weapon on the Millennium Falcon being carried around by ''[[BFG|a single ARC trooper]]'', and instead of using four arms, Grievous juggles four light-sabers around between his hands and prehensile feet (albeit as an "unwelcome surprise"), making for some of the best fights in ''[[Star Wars]]'' history.

** ''[[Inglourious Basterds (Film)|Inglourious Basterds]]'', definitely. It's [[Hollywood Tactics|not tactically smart]] to try guerrilla warfare when you don't have the home advantage, but is it [[Badass]]? Hell yes, especially when you put [[Eli Roth]] in a wifebeater and give him a baseball bat. Throw in Til Schweiger with an engraved knife and One Bitchface to Rule Them All, and the badass factor just doubles.

* It takes liberal [[Fridge Logic]] to see it, but a large proportion of the film version of ''[[Alex Rider (Literature)|Stormbreaker]]'' is based on this.

* ''[[300 (Film)|Three Hundred]]''. If you're bothered by the fact that Xerxes' army did not, in fact, include cave trolls, ninjas and rhinos, and that Spartans wore armor and had backup, you should recite the [[MST3K Mantra]]. Either way, the badassery of the movie can be overwhelming to ''untermenschen''.

** Although this is the most justified example on this page, as we're not seeing what happened, we're being told what happened by a lone survivor, {{spoiler|to an army of Greeks about to fight the Persians}}, so ''of course'' it runs on [[Rule of Cool]]

* ''[[Snakes Onon a Plane]]''. [[Samuel L. Jackson]] (amongst others) is trapped in an aircraft, and he's ''particularly'' incensed about the eponymous reptiles with acted-upon Oedipal complexes. [[Memetic Mutation]] was drawn to this movie like flies to stink, and the rest is history.

** And let's not forget the infamous Flying Guillotine, which was made infamous because of these movies. It's basically a nasty little contraption that consists of a basket with blades and a chain. You throw the basket onto somebody's head, pull the chain, the blades go to work, and it's [[Off Withwith His Head]]!

* Everything that happens in the film ''[[Shoot 'Em Up (Filmfilm)|Shoot Em Up]]''.

* [[Flynning]] looks cooler than real fencing. Just ask [[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes]].

* In the commentary for ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'', [[Joss Whedon]] discusses the scene where {{spoiler|the good guys come through the opaque and sensor-killing "ion cloud" followed by an army of Reavers to back them up against the Alliance. Because the cloud kept the Alliance from seeing them coming, it was a perfect cavalry-coming-over-the-hill moment}}: 'I don't know what an "ion cloud" is, we just made that up. But I would have sold all my knowledge of science to get that scene.' (paraphrased)

* ''[[Ultraviolet (Filmfilm)|Ultraviolet]]'' : ''[[Equilibrium]]'''s Gun Kata was cool enough, but the film seriously lacked a gravity-switch, clothes and hair that change colors at will, kids in suitcases, literal [[Hyperspace Arsenal]] and vampire ninjas. Thankfully, its spiritual sequel corrects that.

* The ''[[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|Back to The Future]]'' films rely heavily on this as well as the [[Rule of Funny]]. One particular example, pointed out by Bob Gale on a [[DVD Commentary]], occurs in the third film. Doc and Marty try to get the DeLorean up to eighty-eight miles per hour by pulling it with horses. Gale pointed out that the Doc would know horses don't run that fast and the Doc even ''points that out in the scene''. However, the filmmakers ''had'' to do that shot with the DeLorean being ridden across Monument Valley like a covered wagon because it would look ''cool''.

** Even the fact that the time machine itself is a DeLorean is already [[Rule of Cool]] in itself. What self-respecting geek hasn't fantasized about having a time-traveling DeLorean? Which is specifically invoked as one of the reasons Doc chose the DeLorean. He starts to give a practical reason, but gets interrupted and doesn't revisit it.

{{quote| '''Doc:''' ''The way I see it, if you're going to build a time machine, why not do it with some'' style?}}

* This notion was the central focus of ''[[Underworld (Filmfilm)|Underworld]]'', [[Fur Against Fang|a world where vampires are at literal constant war with werewolves.]] Naturally, all know overly powerful martial arts and humans are practically invisible throughout the two films

* ''[[The Bourne Series (Filmfilm)|The Bourne Trilogy]]''. What else is to be said?

* The jungle swordfight between Mutt and the bad girl in ''[[Indiana Jones and Thethe Kingdom of The Crystal Skull (Film)|Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of Thethe Crystal Skull]]''. Realistic? Not in the least. Supremely friggin' awesome? Hell yes.

*** The scene in the original ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', where Indy shoots the giant, black-draped swordsman in the Cairo marketplace, was originally to have been a complex whip-and-sword duel (which got cut due to a general ailment among the cast and crew that day). In fact, the Rule of Cool applies to pretty much any action sequence in the entire Indiana Jones franchise.

* [http://www.cracked.com/article_16256_near-misses-6-worst-movies-hollywood-almost-made.html 6 funny examples] how [[Rule of Cool]] can mingle with something and get rabies. "...should be pretty cool. Right?"

* [[Alfred Hitchcock]] [[Invoked Trope|invoked this trope]] when he made ''[[North Byby Northwest]]'', answering the question "Why would someone use a crop duster as a murder weapon?" with the understanding that the audience would be too engrossed in watching the next pass to care.

** Considering that it was directed by [[the Wachowski brothersWachowskis]], it's not surprising that they ripped off ''[[The Matrix]]''. They made that one, after all.

* The ''[[Godzilla]]'' franchise. Giant robots? Check. Radioactive dinosaurs? Check. Awesome [[Fight Scene|Fight Scenes]]s? Check and double check. [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Great music?]] Check!

* [[Roger Ebert]] says in his [https://web.archive.org/web/20121102025408/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/REVIEWS/467306179/1023%2F20080601%2FREVIEWS%2F467306179%2F1023 review] of the ''[[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]]'' movie that military weapons tend not to look nearly as cool as Iron Man, but also that "It wouldn't be nearly as much fun to see a fight scene between two refrigerators crossed with the leftovers from a boiler room."

** The entirety of the wedding scene in ''At World's End'' was [[Rule of Cool]]. Simultaneously a crowning moment of funny, heartwarming and awesome... and technically it wasn't even legal.

* ''[[The 13 th13th Warrior]]'' is loaded with this.

* ''[[G.I. Joe]]: [[G.I. Joe: theThe Rise of Cobra (Film)|The Rise of Cobra]]'', which features a [[Powered Armor]] [[Car Chase]] through Paris, an underwater dog fight, and [[Badass|Snake]][[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|-]][[Ninja|Eyes]].

* ''[[Speed Racer (Filmfilm)|Speed Racer]]'': every glorious second of it.

* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Filmfilm)|The Lord of the Rings]]'', due to Tolkien's terminology ("wings of shadow") describing the [[Eldritch Abomination|Balrog]], nobody on the production team was quite sure whether the wings were literal or metaphorical. [[Peter Jackson]] later admitted they added the wings just because it looked cool.

* The famous lobby scene in ''[[The Matrix]]''. There was no reason for them to be there, except for an awesome shootout. Also when Neo kicks Agent Smith, and then instead of taking his foot down, he moves it in air and then put it down. Totally Frigging Cool.

* ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]''. Despite eschewing [[Space Opera]] tropes, it's hard to deny that the entire film is built around the idea of three-meter-tall blue quasi-Algonquian catpeople fighting mecha from space, and it plays more than a bit fast and loose with the laws of physics and probability to make that happen.

* Oh hey ''[[Zombieland (Film)|Zombieland]]'', hey. Why would you go to an amusement park and turn all the lights on, turning your location into a gigantic target? Why would you jump ''out'' of the car and let it sink into the river, instead of just hitting the brakes suddenly? Why would you try to con the first signs of life instead of going with them, then why would you leave? Why would you take a motorcycle or a shovel to fight zombies? Why? Why? ''Because it's awesome.''

* [http://pics.livejournal.com/mkthudsons/pic/00029x75 This promo poster]{{Dead link}} from ''[[Watchmen (Filmfilm)|Watchmen]]''. True, he could be lighting the cigar purely from the [[Convection, Schmonvection]] of heat, or off the barrel of the flamethrower, but you do NOT want to taste a cigar that's been lit off a kerosene flame. Just trust me on this one.

* ''[[The Fast and Thethe Furious]]'' series features this trope in abundance, but it really reaches its apex in the climax to ''Fast Five''. The heroes steal a 10-ton vault by attaching it via steel cables to two souped up Dodge Chargers, then using the cars to tear the vault from the building. They then proceed to drag the vault all over the city in a huge car chase, with the vault careening all over the place and causing massive destruction. While still going fast enough to outrun police cars. Anyone with the most basic knowledge of physics knows that this is impossible, but it's so cool that few people have complained about it.

* Mythological gods and heroes in general are full of this. That's half the ''point'' of most of them. Hercules, Gilgamesh, the entire cast of ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''... all fuelled by Rule of Cool. And where else are you going to hear that an Eight Headed Snake was defeated by ''Sake'' of all things.<ref> Besides ''[[Okami]]''</ref>. In fact, most mythological heroes weren't necessarily heroic in the modern sense. A lot of the time, all it took to be a "hero" was just to be an unbelievable [[Badass]] that ran on the Rule of Cool.

* [[Older Than Print]]: ''[[Beowulf (Literature)|Beowulf]]'' is the Rule of Cool personified. He can hold his breath for several days, rip off the arms of giants, and generally make a nuisance of himself to anyone that isn't awesome enough to hang out with him.

* Author [[Christopher Moore]] lampshades his use of this in the afterword to ''[[Lamb: theThe Gospel According To Biff (Literature)|Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal]]''. At one point in the story Jesus goes to China and studies both Buddhism and martial arts at a Shaolinesque temple. Moore admits the temples wouldn't have been around at the time, but then adds this: "But to remain historically accurate, I would have to leave out an important question that I felt needed to addressed, which is, '[[Kung Fu Jesus|What if Jesus had known kung fu]]?'"

* [[Garth Nix]]' ''The [[Keys to Thethe Kingdom]]'' is basically Nix trying to see how much cool magic stuff and mythology he can put into one series. Answer: ''a lot''.

* In one of the books of the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' [[Star Trek Deep Space Nine Relaunch|relaunch novels]], an interstellar portal (which, mind you, could have led to anywhere in the galaxy) just happens to lead to a Malon garbage scow that had been taken over by a Hirogen hunter. Why? [[Rule of Cool|So that Taran'atar, their local Jem'Hadar character, could fight with him, of course!]]

* While most animal-themed [[Gladiator Games]] involve tigers, bears and the like, ''[[Gentleman Bastard Sequence|The Lies of Locke Lamora]]'' features gladiator equivalents who stand on platforms over water and fight ''sharks''.

* ''[[His Dark Materials]] '': Iorek Byrnison and the Panserbjorne. No, [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears|everything's]] ''[[Averted Trope|not]]'' [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears|worse with bears]], especially if they're sentient and armored.

{{quote| '''Wes Janson''': "So it's like a blaster you have to hit someone with. I've got to have one."}}

** There's even a reason for this: he writes action packed, "awesomely cool" books as a way of getting teenage boys (usually unwilling readers) to read.

* Why is [[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'s scar shaped like a lightning bolt?

{{quote| '''[[JKJ. K. Rowling]]''': "To be honest, because it’s a cool shape. I couldn’t have my hero sport a doughnut-shaped scar."}}

* [[George Eliot]] noted in ''[[Silly Novels Byby Lady Novelists]]'' that stories trying to do it via "let's throw it in" method

{{quote| ...remind us of the pictures clever children sometimes draw "out of their own head," where you will see a modern villa on the right, two knights in helmets fighting in the foreground, and a tiger grinning in a jungle on the left, the several objects being brought together because the artist thinks each pretty, and perhaps still more because he remembers seeing them in other pictures.}}

{{quote| "Nice floating train. Floating trains are cool."<br />

* The ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]'' almost always follow up a "busted" myth (and many plausible and confirmed myths to boot) with an [[Awesome but Impractical|over-the-top experiment under improbable circumstances]], just to see how cool it looks like when it explodes. After all, [[Catch Phrase|"we've replicated the circumstances of the myth, now let's replicate the results"]], and [[Catch Phrase|"if it's worth doing,]] [[No Kill Like Overkill|it's worth overdoing"]].

{{quote| '''Jamie:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|This has got nothing to do with the myth;]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|it's just a big boom.]]}}

* Pretty much the sole reason that the monsters in [[Toku|Tokusatsu]]satsu shows [[Made of Explodium|explode into fireballs]] upon defeat. (well, that and it's a flashy way to get rid of a monster without more expensive post-editing effects.)

* One of the key selling points of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' is the authenticity of the wardrobe and the skill of the costume department at making it so. And then Arthur has a trenchcoat. Why? Because it looks badass.

* Nothing in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' makes any sense at all. Not a single goddamn thing. Not the really [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|NineHundredYearsOld]] [[The Nth Doctor|regenerating]] [[Human Alien]] who travels around time and space in a police box, not the [[Techno Babble]] he [[Motor Mouth|delivers at a hundred kilometres an hour]] to justify the latest [[Reverse Polarity]], not the [[Continuity Snarl|perpetually vague or contradicting continuity]], not the [[Omnicidal Maniac]] motorised pepper pots armed with a whisk and a toilet plunger, and definitely not the screwdriver that gets [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]]. There is also, however, not a single person that cares.

{{quote| Mook: "What you gonna do, sucker me to death?" <br />

** The 2008 Christmas special features a {{spoiler|GIGANTIC [[Steampunk|STEAMPUNK]] [[Humongous Mecha|CYBERMECHA]].}} Sure, it was completely ridiculous, but... {{spoiler|gigantic steampunk cybermecha}}!

** [[Doctor Who/Recap/2010 CSACS A Christmas Carol/Recap|A flying shark pulling a sled?]]

** [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 /E13 The Wedding of River Song|Balloon powered cars floating around a 'modern' London with flying-lizards, Roman soldiers on the underground, Charles Dickens on early-morning TV to talk about his latest book and Winston Churchill riding into parliment on his personal mammoth?]]

** This is not completely true, as the Star Trek writers sometimes write in extra, unnecessary [[Techno Babble]] explanations for unrealistic technology, most likely due to fan complaints. One example is that the ''[[Star Trek]]'' transporter technology, which violates [[wikipedia:Uncertainty principle|Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle]], has [[wikipedia:Transporter (Star Trek)|"Heisenberg Compensators"]], mentioned in ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|Star Trek: TNG]]'' episodes "Realm of Fear" and "Ship in a Bottle", and in ''[[Deep Space Nine|Star Trek: DS9]]'' episode "Past Tense, Part I".

** In the season four premiere of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', the Enterprise's targeting sensors are disabled, requiring the ship to get close enough to the target to eyeball it. This serves no plot purpose, but the target happened to be a facility in Nazi-occupied New York. The result was the Enterprise flying over New York City, fighting [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Stukas with plasma cannons]].

* This is the basis of the Lemon Demon song, "The [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (Musicsong)|Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]]" (which inspired a [http://www.ultimateshowdown.org/ well-known Flash video]), in which Neil Cicierega describes a battle royale started by Godzilla and Batman. As the fight went on, more pop culture icons join in, including Shaquille O'Neal, Abraham Lincoln, [[Transformers|Optimus Prime]], Jackie Chan, [[Indiana Jones]], the [[Power Rangers]], [[Chuck Norris]], [[Star Wars|Darth Vader]], [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]], [[Benito Mussolini]], and countless others:

{{quote| ''The fight raged on for a century,'' <br />

''Many lives were claimed, but eventually'' <br />

''The champion stood, the rest saw their better:'' <br />

** Rule of Cool is really the reason for Muse's existence. It ain't high art, but who cares if you have songs about "superstars sucked into the supermassive", with huge riffs and piano's that would make an appropriate soundtrack to [[The Divine Comedy (Literature)|Dante's Inferno]]. Oh, and the live shows are truly awesomely epic. [[The Power of Rock]], indeed.

* The video for ''[[Shine Onon Me]]'' by Chris Dane Owens. It's every fantasy movie imaginable fed through a wood chipper, spliced with shots of a Legolas lookalike strumming a guitar. And it's ''epic''.

* The reason anyone likes [[Dragonforce (Music)|DragonforceDragonForce]].

* ''Liquid Tension Experiment''; when [[Dream Theater (Music)|Dream Theater]] members gave up any semblance of composition and just dazzled everyone with their unbelievable instrumental prowess.

* "[[Godzilla]] Eats [[Viva Las Vegas|Las Vegas]]". Which is [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]].

* The album cover of ''Painkiller'' by [[Judas Priest (Music)|Judas Priest]] definitely qualifies. It has a silver angel riding a motorcycle with buzzsaw blades for wheels, and a chassis that is a dragon. This shiny angel rides his impossible motorcycle through the air over a bunch of skyscrapers slowly sinking into lava. That, is just amazingly cool.

* Some wrestling moves (especially the more elaborate finishers) fall into this category; the most obvious one is [[TNA]] [[Professional Wrestling|wrestler]] Petey Williams' "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov1rNg0wsIg Canadian Destroyer]", a flip piledriver that [[Martial Arts Do Not Work That Way|would break the laws of physics]] if the opponent weren't helping -- buthelping—but it looks incredibly awesome, so it doesn't matter too much.

** This is, in fact, ''the'' central rule of the ''[[Exalted (Tabletop Game)|Exalted]]''. Not only do many, many things in the setting exist solely because they're cool, but it's an ''actual rule'' -- although—although it doesn't use that name, it's a mechanical manifestation of it in spirit -- wherespirit—where giving a cool description to accompany an action grants a Stunt bonus to perform it. The more awesome it sounds, the bigger the bonus.

** Case in point for the ''Exalted'' Rule of Cool outside of the Stunt mechanic: ''[[Chainsaw Good|chainklaves]]''. Then the Alchemicals had to go and beat it with the gyroscopic chakram: for when [[Captain America (comics)]] needs to get in on the [[Chainsaw Good]].

** Stunting also makes it into ''[[Changeling: The Lost (Tabletop Game)|Changeling: The Lost]]'', in the specific context of Dream Combat, and with some caveats appropriate to that.

* The open-source game [https://web.archive.org/web/20120503235138/http://wiki.saberpunk.net/Wushu/HomePage Wushu] thrives on a stunting rule, giving you dice for every detail that you hammer down for a given action. And everything you describe happens unless the other players veto it.

* The indie [[Legend Game System]] [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|is actually published by]] ''Rule of Cool Games''.

* Ever wanted to play a [[You Fight Like a Cow|wise-cracking]] [[Time Travel|time-hopping]] secret warrior [[Cowboy Cop|maverick cop]] with a [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold|heart of gold]] from [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|the future]] with [[Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting|kung fu]] powers [[Guns Akimbo|dual wielding]] his [[BFG]] in one hand and a [[Magitek]] [[Frickin' Laser Beams|energy rifle]] in the other trying to stop [[Card-Carrying Villain|evil eunuch sorcerers]] and [[Artificial Limbs|cyborg]] [[Everything's Better Withwith Monkeys|gorillas]] from replacing the [[Genre Shift|entire history of mankind with their own warped version]] just by capturing a few places that are heavily tied to the chi of the world? Try ''[[Feng Shui (Tabletop Game)|Feng Shui]]''. The entire game is pretty much built on every [[Rule of Cool]] trope ever. It makes ''[[Exalted]]'' look like very [[Serious Business]] indeed. Based on a card game called ''Shadowfist''.

* The ''[[Eberron]]'' campaign setting in ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]''. For one thing, there's a [[Dungeon Punk|magic train]] that exists for the sole purpose of players fighting on its roof. Then there's the [[Lost World]] continent, the modular magic-powered robots known as the Warforged (who are a PC race!), the [[Horse of a Different Color|dinosaur-riding]] halflings...

* ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. Physics ''is'' the [[Rule of Cool]], and it's [[Nightmare Fuel|fueled by abyssal nightmares]].

* In ''[[GURPS]]'' the Rule of Cool is neatly quantified for [[Game Master|Game Masters]]s wishing to run cinematic campaigns: ''"The "cinematic" campaign is one where realism doesn't rule because if it did, it would constantly get in the way of the story. In a cinematic campaign, swashbuckling heroes can defeat dozens of foes because the story calls for it. Spacecraft whoosh or roar in the silence of space because fast things whoosh and powerful engines roar. Rightness always overrules mere correctness."''

* This is an explicit rule of design in ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]''. Pretty much anything can see print if it's cool enough.

* ''[[Dino Riders|Dino-Riders'']]: [[Time Travel|time traveling]] humans and alien monsters, some with [[Everything's Even Worse Withwith Sharks|sharks]] for heads fighting each other while riding on dinosaurs outfitted with space age armour missile launchers and laser cannons. ''Dinosaurs equipped with [[BFG|thumping great guns]] and laser cannons battling each other!'' How did that not catch on? These days, they're mostly remembered through pictures shared as "most-awesome-thing-ever" [[Memetic Mutation|memes]].

* Although the concept of 'cool' was merely used to market the toys and rarely had a bearing on the story, other than giving it an alien atmosphere, ''[[Bionicle]]'' definitely qualifies, with such things as giant-sized, biomechanical tigers that can extend their neck and have caterpillar tracks instead of back legs; robotic heroes surfing on lava or riding on rock slides with buzz saws attached to their feet; humongous insects with powerful blasters implanted onto their bodies; desert bandits riding on dinosaurs; and all kinds of warriors/villains/monsters you can [[Built With Lego|build out of Lego sets]] with the most bizarre powers you can imagine. Even such mundane things as transportation were cool when the setting called for it. Nowadays, the story tends to focus less on these aspects and more on the actual plot -- thatplot—that is why the introduction of cybernetic dinosaurs with laser targeting-systems was so welcomed.

* ''[[He-Man and Thethe Masters of The Universe (Animation)|He-Man and The Masters of Thethe Universe]]''

** [[Rule of Cool]] explains how Dante still manages to get business, even though the standard response to a call for help seems to be to {{spoiler|''kick the front door out, shoot randomly at the street, and blow up your own damn shop'', if the bonus clip in ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' is to be believed.}}

** Just about ALL of ''Fallout 3'' runs on [[Rule of Cool]], really. That and the intentional [[Zeerust]] are the only things that can explain the giant scorpions, the radiation hanging around after 200 years and keeping things a wasteland, and the fact that that many buildings are still there after being nuked then left to rot for over 200 years, cars that explode in mushroom clouds and most of all... {{spoiler|Liberty Prime. A giant, bipedal robot with Gort's laser eyes and a backpack of miniature nuclear missiles, which it throws like footballs. Which is voiced by Peter 'Optimus Prime' Cullen.}}

* The final battle in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'', where Sora and {{spoiler|Riku}} fight {{spoiler|Xemnas}}, especially the parts when you're floating in space, and you can ''slice buildings flying at you in half and send them flying back without moving'', is so impossible the only explanation is that the laws of physics were breaking. (Though considering what was happening at the end of the game, that's actually not too far-fetched.)

** The opening sequence of the first ''[[Kingdom Hearts (Videovideo Gamegame)|Kingdom Hearts]]'' counts. Yes, it's a tutorial level, but does it really matter when Sora is navigating a black void, walking on stained-glass floors of Disney characters, and it all culminates in a battle against a ''giant Heartless with a hole in its chest in the shape of a heart symbol''?

* ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|Super Smash Bros.]].'' in its entirety is fueled by nothing but [[Rule of Cool]] and [[Rule of Fun]]. There is no other way to justify scenes such as a crossdressing ninja punching a hole through a fighter jet to fight its anthropomorphic fox pilot or a giant penguin bitchslaping a turtle-dragon.

** All these are in a game with surprisingly little [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]]. A normal situation in multiplayer involves a [[Donkey Kong|giant gorilla with a tie]] headbutting [[Metal Gear|Solid Snake]] into the surface of a moving craft then launching him offscreen with a haymaker. Then, Snake grabs the Smash Ball and his player goes through an [[Unexpected Gameplay Change]] and starts firing grenades from the foreground, causing a [[Total Party Kill]]. IN SPACE!

* Pretty much everything in ''[[Command and& Conquer|Red Alert 2]]''. And ''[[Red Alert]] 3,'' too. Armored paratrooper bears, anyone?

* ''[[BioBioShock Shock(series)]]''. No, they didn't have automated turrets or flying unmanned machinegun robots in the 60s, and the technology to build an entire city on the bottom of the ocean wasn't even feasible in the late 1940s. But that's terribly irrelevant when one considers that you also have a [[Bee-Bee Gun|Magical Hand That Shoots Bees]] and can set people on fire by snapping your fingers.

** For ''[[Bio Shock Infinite (Video Game)|Bio ShockBioShock Infinite]]'' you get the magic to sic a murder of crows on people. Even so, how does the flying city of Columbia carry enough fuel to stay airborne, or to lift all those stone buildings, marble statues, cobbled streets and parks at all? Though ''awesomeness''.

* ''[[Disgaea]]''. There is an entirely logical explanation as to why your [[Pettanko]] brawler can punch her enemies into the sun: it's because it is ridiculously awesome looking. Not just that, you can also ''launch the entire battle map into the sun''.

* ''[[Supreme Commander (Video Game)|Supreme Commander]]'' features quite a few units that operate by this trope, including virtually all of the experimentals. The Fatboy, Czar, and Megalith are [[Military Mashup Machine|Military Mashup Machines]]s par excellence, the Galactic Colossus is a textbook example of [[Awesome but Impractical]], the Monkeylord is just kind of the Monkeylord... the list goes on.

* ''[[Rocket Knight Adventures]]'' lives and breathes this trope. It stars a heavily armored anthropomorphic opossum who flies around with a rocket pack and wields a sword that can generate [[Razor Wind]], it's utterly saturated with [[Steampunk]] [[Humongous Mecha]], [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier|Airborne Aircraft Carriers]]s, and [[Military Mashup Machine|Military Mashup Machines]]s, and your enemies do things like deliberately blowing a hole in the side of their own spaceship to try and kill you or following you down through re-entry into the planet's atmosphere.

* ''[[DantesDante's Inferno (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dantes Inferno]]''. You start off by killing the grim reaper, stealing his scythe, descending into hell and eventually killing the lord of hell himself. Also along the way you also fight a giant naked woman throwing babies out of her boobs. Everything this game does is to be cool and to slightly follow the original poem.

* Solid Snake of ''[[Metal Gear Solid (Video Game)|Metal Gear Solid]]'' fame is at times a [[Warrior Poet|quiet and profound]] kind of cool, and at other times an artistically lethal example of the beauty of perfect motion. The cutscenes from ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' almost invariably function on splicing this trope directly with another trope (or several others) for multiplicative results. One [[Boss Battle]] and the cutscene following it actually manage to include ''more than ten'' tropes that are easily identifiable offhand, wherein [[Super Soldier|Snake]] takes on [[The Gunslinger|Revolver Ocelot]] in a running firefight to save a [[Torture Technician|tortured hostage tied to a pillar]] in the middle of the square room, forcing the player to carefully avoid [[Shoot the Hostage|shooting him]] throughout the fight. Moreover, the entire center square of the room is criss-crossed with [[Incredibly Obvious Bomb|tension wires tied to blinking Semtex bombs]], meaning the player has to be extra careful not to so much as ''touch'' one while still trying to dodge Ocelot's [[Improbable Aiming Skills|impossible ricocheting shots]] which can hit you ''even if you're safely behind cover'', or [[Game Over|the game will immediately end in failure]]. And if all that wasn't enough, winning the fight cues the sudden appearance of a stealth [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|ninja cyborg]] character who announces his entrance by cutting off Ocelot's right hand in mid-aim, then surgically severing the trigger wires in such a way that no one is killed when the bombs all explode. The ninja then attacks Snake, immediately [[Dodge the Bullet|deflecting several bullets with his sword]]. Snake employs a combination of [[Super Soldier|gunfire, martial arts, and desperate gymnastics]] to bring about a split-second [[Mexican Standoff|stalemate]] with the ninja's sword at his throat and his SOCOM pistol at the ninja's head, point-blank. Now, the ten separate tropes linked here are all present and actively played during this scene, but would you believe there are actually even more in there? This entire game gets a ''double'' award for usage of the [[Rule of Cool]], since not only the events within the narrative clearly qualify, but the writers and directors score likewise for the [[Refuge in Audacity|pure and utter improbability]] of all of these elements ever playing together so well, and the greatest part (as well as the part which makes it a fit addition to this section) of all? ''[[Rule of Cool|It seriously works]]''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2hZGKUkPX8 See for yourself here]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6F_2kq8B4 And here]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3raLq4f_LQ And here]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f98qb3spbk4 And, probably most impressively, here].

* From ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', it's also worth mentioning the final confrontation, the [[Climax Boss]] battle of the game. It's a fistfight. Between two guys biologically clearly over fifty. Both still perfectly capable of kicking your ass. On the top of a submarine. Why? ''Because it's cool.''

* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20171025124805/http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/Persona3/index.html Let's Play] series for ''[[Persona 3]]'' calls attention to this when it happens to mention who the main character's ultimate Persona is: "Messiah is...well, he's that guy. Yeah. THAT guy. We're going to battle against the incarnation of Death by summoning '''that guy'''. I don't think this game could possibly be any more metal."

** Chie's ultimate Persona in ''[[Persona 4]]'' looks like [[Star Wars (Franchise)|a samurai Darth Vader with Darth Maul's lightsaber.]] ''[[Persona 4]]'' also gives you Kintoki-Douji. It carries a Tomahawk MISSILE. Alas, it is a magic-oriented Persona, so it doesn't throw it. For shame.

** Needless to say, EBA's predecessor, [[Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan]], ran on this trope too - if using Japanese-style male cheerleading to encourage a buddy cop pair to fight back against an invading army of battery-like aliens, or an overworked salaryman to protect his city and his daughter in Ultraman fashion, or the ''entire planet to blast an oncoming meteor with concentrated willpower'' isn't [[Rule of Cool]], we don't know what is.

** The Morph-O-Ray and related weapons: stated in the fourth game, <s> ''Gladiator''</s> ''Deadlocked'', to be based on [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells|"Heisenberg uncertainty particles"]]. In ''[[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Up Your Arsenal]]'', it can turn your opponents into '''[[Kill It Withwith Fire|phoenix ducks from hell]]'''. With an ''infinite ammo supply''.

** Even the basic [[More Dakka|rapid-fire weapon]] in ''Up Your Arsenal'' develops [[Rule of Cool]] powers after a while - not only does each shot ricochet an ungodly number of times, they also discharge red lightning when they hit.

* The Karmic Transformers in ''[[Okami]]''. Sure, they don't serve any other purpose than making Amaterasu look different, but there's something ''awesome'' about seeing a [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/Japspitzpup.jpg Japanese]{{Dead link}} [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20080720063929/http://dogslife.com.au/__data/page/5948/Japanese_Spitz.jpg Spitz] beat up enemies and bosses. Oh, and while we're on the rule of cool, how about Waka's flute, ''which can turn into a glowing sword?'' Not to mention the fact that it's called 'Pillow Talk'.

* The official roleplay rules for ''[[Furcadia]]'' involve something called the Rule of COOL, but that has nothing to do with this trope, although our [[Rule of Cool]] probably gets invoked by the players often enough.

* ''[[Mischief Makers]]'' is a game that takes the [[Rule of Cool]] [[Serial Escalation]]. Sequences in the game include outrunning a tidal wave on a tricycle, riding giant bees, and a stage literally called [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Missile Surf.]]

* ''[[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prototype]]'''s combat is the definition of the [[Rule of Cool]]. Sure, you can punch your enemies to death, but why do that when you can achieve the same result by shoryukening them, punching them thrice in midair, then slamming them into the ground like a rail spike?

** And then [[Grievous Harm Withwith a Body|using his corpse]] to down a military helicopter, grabbing the now-plummeting helicopter in mid-air and chucking it down at a tank and finish off with a ground-pound, taking out any infantry stragglers.

* [[Two Words|Six words]]: ''[[Little Red Riding HoodsHood's Zombie BBQ]]''. Sure, Little Red Riding Hood may not be the definition of cool. We've seen zombies in media a million and a half times. BBQs are what middle age men do to show off their cooking skills while keeping their testicles intact. But there is nothing uncool about a grown Little Red Riding Hood in skimpy clothing using a flamethrower on the undead.

* Not strictly ''in'' a video game, but the Nintendo 64 controller was made with three prongs instead of two because it would look cooler, nevermind the fact that it prevents all of the buttons from being in reach at the same time. Also perhaps trying to 1up the [[Play StationPlayStation]], released about a year and a half previous, whose controller only had two prongs.

* ''[[Crimson Skies]]''. All of both the PC and Xbox versions. ''Everything'' is powered by the [[Rule of Cool]].

{{quote| These things could never get off the ground in real life. But who cares? They. Look. '''Cool'''.}}

** The Xbox version: not only are the vehicles ridiculously impractical, but you spend your time fighting rogue Nazis equipped with [[Zeppelins Fromfrom Another World|zeppelins designed to eat other zeppelins]], [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Spider Tank|Spider Tanks]]s, [[Shock and Awe|planes with lightning guns]], and a base located inside an ancient Inca ruin packed with magma and [[Death Trap|Death Traps]]s (it may have been built by [[Dwarf Fortress|Dwarves]] instead). In the final mission, they turn up with two zep-eaters attached to either side of a giant ''weather control weapon''. Oh, and your basic starter plane comes equipped with magnetic homing missiles. This is supposedly set sometime during the 1930s.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'': So it comes time to update the most overpowered and controversial class in the game with a new weapon, what do you give him? Valve gave him a claymore sword that decapitates on killing blows, and a shield that resists fire and explosions, AND makes him run faster than any other class in the game. All of this for seemingly no reason other than the fact that the demoman is Scottish, and it makes a pretty cool ''Braveheart'' reference.

** On Shadow's intro on ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)||Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'', Shadow is shown running through snow while avoiding many robots shooting him. He then runs through the robots. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|The robots blow up, and then he bounces on a single robot to get past a big door]]. That's a full use of this rule. However, the Chaos Control he proceeds to use is unjustified because it doesn't look as cool as it should... especially after what he just did.

** The first level of ''[[Sonic Adventure 2 (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure 2]]'', Sonic escapes [[Mistaken for Terrorist|wrongful capture]] from a G.U.N. (Military organisation similar to NATO) Helicopter, and surfs down the hilly city streets on a chunk of the wing. Then at the end of the level, G.U.N. chases him with a [[The Simpsons (animation)|truck-truck-truck]], a 4 story tall semi so wide it barley scraped along the sides of the buildings and [[The Juggernaut|sends everything in the street flying on impact]]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJIZ0PHyyCI\]

*** The truck became [[Took a Level Inin Badass|a lot more awesome]] for ''[[Sonic Generations (Video Game)|Sonic Generations]]''. It now chases Modern Sonic for far longer, has buzzsaws at the front and even chases Sonic UP A BUILDING. Yes, that thing can now fly.

* ''[[Punch -Out!!|Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!]]''. Why else would a four-foot-tall, 107 &nbsp;lb, 17-year-old kid from The Bronx be travelling around the world, fighting circus freaks, competing for the World '''Heavyweight''' Boxing Championship? ''Because it's cool.''

* ''Just Cause 2'' 's programmers stated that they tried to set the game so that the laws of physics would seem to be sort of drunk, to encourage the players to do more crazy awesome things. It worked, too.

{{quote| "This game takes D and D, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, among many other things, throws them in a blender and just hits the puree switch. And my God is it beautiful!"}}

* Most games in [[The Legend of Zelda]] poke at the [[Rule of Cool]], but none goes quite as far as [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]. Epona gets an upgrade from the "X" in [[A Boy and His X|a boy and his horse]] into a bona fide [[Cool Car|war]] [[Horseback Heroism|horse]] in this game, complete with a few [[Rearing Horse]] moments. [[Everything's Better Withwith Spinning]] applies to the Spinner and the trusty spin attack. You can do some cool [[Spider -Man]] moves with the Double Clawshot, walk on walls because of the [[Schizo-Tech|electromagnets]] in the Goron Mines, some [[Rent-A-Zilla|truly awesome boss fights]] including the one in the [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|flying city]], and when fighting bosses there is almost always a moment of [[Theme Music Power-Up]] when you've exposed an enemy's vulnerabilities. Really, it almost seems like they went out of their way to make this game just plain cooler than the others in the series.

* The ''[[Esp GaludaEspgaluda]]'' series features characters who can slow down bullets and power up their attack by using Kakusei ("Awakening"). Not only does activating this [[Super Gender Bender|instantly change their gender]], but they also inexplicably change into a different set of clothes. [[Word of God|The character designer]] said that it was just to look cool.

* This [http://wickedpowered.com/d/20070702.html page] from a webcomic called WICKEDPOWERED

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' positively ''thrives'' on this. The inclusion of raptor-riding banditos alone pretty much proves the point here, but if that doesn't convince you, there's also Dracula, who happens to have a ''moon base''. With a ''moon laser.'' Where he hangs out with Paul McCartney, the real Micheal Jackson, and Tupac.

** Eventually, you get to [https://web.archive.org/web/20090217154228/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=48&issue=11 this.]

*** Apparently, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901200403/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=27&issue=13 KING RADICAL] epitomizes the [[Rule of Cool]]. So...radical....

*** It gets even better in the most recent issue with [https://web.archive.org/web/20090831065236/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=23&issue=14 this strip] and the one directly following it. No other webcomic features a ninja MD flying a private jet into a thunderstorm where he will be attacked by missile volleys and <s>pterodactyls</s> [[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying|birdosauruses]], which he will subsequently defeat in a single minute so that he may continue on to the apocalyptic Aztec tennis temple to save the world's greatest tennis champion who must play a game of tennis against the avatar of the Aztec god of destruction in order to save the world from imminent doom. The only reason any of the above makes any sense, at all, is because it is ''so goddamn cool''.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20091109033953/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=66&issue=15 Ent. With. Helicopter. Head.]

* Obligatory ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcdxkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/254/ example].

* ''[http://chesspiece.smackjeeves.com [Chess Piece]]'' by [[Neo Yi]] has some sequences that fit this. Seeing [[Fairly Oddparents|Crimson Chin]], Doug Quailman and [[My Life Asas a Teenage Robot|XJ-9]] duke it out is certainly awesome. Also, Phantom using blood bending. Awesome [[Nightmare Fuel]]!

* [[Ansem Retort|This comic]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20150112020310/http://www.ansemretort.org/ansemretort/index.html?comic=516 brought to you by a man on a shark fighting a] [[Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie|Werepire]]

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Rule of Cool seems to be the only explanation for [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0352.html how this] [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0353.html is possible].

* ''[[Cyanide and& Happiness]]'' also [http://www.explosm.net/comics/157/ seem to know what a webcomic needs] to be cool.

* In ''[[Snowflakes]]'', Wray's logic and knowledge of history, and even her grip on reality, are often come into question. But who cares if Erik the Red never piloted the Enterprise, or whether there are wraiths? It's [[Rule of Cool|awesome]].

* Invoked by the protagonist of ''[[Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger]]'' in-comic [http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSRquentyn-quinn-space-ranger-0037/00037.html here.]

** {{quote|'''Plotya Foreshadow''': But why did you fire aan entire salvo of photon torpedoes to detonate it? A remote self-destruct command would have done the job...

** '''Quentyn Quinn''': Well yeah, but this way looked ''cooler''. }}

* Almost explicitly invoked in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130807024415/http://amultiverse.com/2010/10/25/god-science-daily/ This Scenes From a Multiverse.]

* ''[[Axe Cop (Webcomic)|Axe Cop]]'': Did we mention the t-rex with [[Cool Shades]] that has chainguns for arms and can breathe fire and can turn into a dragon with rocket wings? No? Then we should mention [https://web.archive.org/web/20130501004807/http://axecop.com/index.php/acepisodes/read/episode_52/ the t-rex with Cool Shades that has chainguns for arms and can breathe fire and can turn into a dragon with rocket wings].

** Though fact is, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131026130420/http://www.jackbauerfacts.com/ when Chuck Norris goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer].

* ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'': A ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]''/''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' crossover done with ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' physics. It also features an [[Holy Shit Quotient|HSQ]] that approaches ''one'' during some fight sequences that quite frankly [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDrukfontFg=related have to] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It2Sn5IiXBM&feature=related be seen] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zDuJxM99IQ&feature=related to be] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMyPYwHKnmo&feature=related believed]

** See also [http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-demands-tax-dollars-only-be-wasted-on-stuff,17704/ this] article from ''[[The Onion]]'', in which the [[Rule of Cool]] is applied to federal government.

* In a [[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|NChick]] class on how to spot evil, Nella says that black leather coats are bad, unless you're a post-apocalyptic [[Anti-Hero]]. Then it's just cool.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0AiN8vrn9Y Be Prepared], Scar's [[Villain Song|song]] from ''[[The Lion King (Disney)|The Lion King]]'' has the ground lifting up to the moon while Scar and the Hyenas are standing on it to make a menacing tower, in addition to lots of green lighting and smoke coming out of the ground. Why? Because it's COOL!

* ''[[Transformers]]'' would probably not ''exist'' without this, in just about any incarnation. Several commercials for the [[Transformers (Filmfilm)|2007 movie]] were constructed basically of the robots appearing onscreen and onlookers standing around saying "cool."

* Much of the [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' is built between the [[Rule of Cool]] and the [[Rule of Funny]], resulting in quite a bit of varying controversy. Many recurring questions that [[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)/Headscratchers|linger in the fandom]] are the identity of Red X, the identity of Slade and the fuel behind his motives, and which of the Robins Robin is. Glen Murakami on the other hand has openly expressed that he couldn't care less about any of these things, so long as the [[Animation Age Ghetto|kids]] liked it and found it cool. In one interview, he uses the word "[[Totally Radical|cool]]" a good fifteen times to answer just about every other question. Inevitably, the series concluded with [[Kudzu Plot|more unresolved plotlines than you can count on your hand]].

* Parodied in ''[[Invader Zim (Animation)|Invader Zim]]'', where the [[Virtual Ghost]] of a Martian justifies their embarking on a ridiculous, pointless project that drove their race into extinction with "Because it's cool."

* [[Badass|Tai Lung]] of ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'' embodies this trope. What else can explain picking a lock ''with a feather'', kicking spears out of mid-air, defying gravity repeatedly, or being able to fight with his fists on fire? A close second would be Tigress and the rest of the Five's fight at the bridge, Shifu's [[Bullet Time]] flip of a buster sword, Po's training (and later use of the Wuxi Finger Hold) and kung fu in general.

* The creators of ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'', the [[Continuity Reboot]] to ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'', were looking for a way to set their series apart from the rest. So, they made a spin-off movie entitled, ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]... [[The Batman vs. Dracula|versus]] [[Dracula]]''. '''Batman. Versus. Dracula.''' The epic bat-imagery crossover lets it actually make a twisted kind of sense, despite being a complete derailment of the Batman franchise. And the movie lives up to the concept. {{spoiler|Yes, Batman finds a cure for vampirism at the end, and all the citizens of Gotham who were vamps go back to normal}}. The Penguin becomes [[The Renfield]]. Oh, and as if it wasn't cool enough already, [[The Joker]] gets turned into a vampire {{spoiler|for a while}}. Vampire Joker. VAMPIRE. JOKER. This isn't Rule Of ''Cool'', this is Rule Of PURE AWESOME.

** Nah, he's a [[Main/Western Animation/TV/Nightmare Fuel/TV|nightmarish]] [[Badass]] [[Monster Clown]]. [[Nightmare Fetishist|Which is even better]].

* In one episode ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]'' jumped off a plane, without a parachute. Even while she was falling towards her doom, she didn't panic once, and just by sheer luck was she saved by a blimp. While asked why Kim would do such a deadly stunt, the director answered that it was cool.

* Near the end of the third season of ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'', with the system crashing, "User" characters from every game seen prior to the episode suddenly begin appearing in Mainframe. This is [[Hand Wave|explained]] by the instability of the system releasing "undeleted RAM" -- but—but it seems more like a thinly-veiled excuse for a battle royale between the cast and every User at once. Nobody complained.

** A better example would be the episode with Enzo's birthday party. During the festivities, [[Big Bad]] Megabyte crashes the party, and brings out... a guitar? With a [[This Is Spinal Tap|dial turned to 11?]] Megabyte begins jamming, almost painful because of how loud it is. Then Bob steps up to face him, seeming angry at him for crashing the party. Then he commands his [[Green Lantern Ring|keytool]] to turn into a guitar and thus begins a rocking '''guitar duel''', between [[Go-Karting Withwith Bowser|the Hero and the Big Bad!]] The whole thing ends with Megabyte giving Enzo his guitar, "I've always wanted to do that" and then leaving. Sure, it could've been a trap, or just about anything, but those thoughts never crossed ANYONE'S mind, simply because it was just that freaking AWESOME.

* ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' ''lives'' on Rule of Cool. As well it should, being inspired by the glorious lunacy of [[Silver Age]] [[DC Comics]].

{{quote| '''Coop''': Man, there's some tough competition this year.<br />

* Tried, but failed, in the ''[[Mister T (Animationanimation)|Mister T]]'' animated series. (If it managed to fail at the [[Rule of Cool]] despite having [[Mr. T]] as the main character, you know it failed big-time). While a few moments (most notably ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130918021940/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Mister_T/Mystery_of_the_Golden_Medallion.aspx spinning an alligator over his head]'') managed it, the [[Anvilicious|punctuating thuds of anvils landing]] got in the way.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Sokka has a ''space sword.'' A '''sword''' made from '''meterorite.'''

* ''[[Swat Kats (Animation)|Swat Kats]]''... pretty much constantly. How did they manage to build an entire serviceable jet fighter from parts in a salvage yard? One better than the official military's jets? After building a secret hangar? And many of their Special Missiles completely violate logic ''and'' physics. Not to mention the times their jet ends up crashing into the water with stalled engines ''and they manage to get the engines restarted '''underwater''' and fly away''. But who cares? It's [[Incredibly Lame Pun|RADICAL]]. And plays to an awesome electric guitar soundtrack.

* An in-story example appears in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'': Almost no-one calls out Buzz Lightyear on his delusion about being a real space hero as opposed to a toy, because he's just that cool. Applies regardless of how many of them may actually believe him, because if they do, it's still because he's so cool.

* The ''[[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars]]'' episode "The Mandalore Plot" featured a villain with a lightsaber. Not just any lightsaber, one with a ''[[Impossibly Cool Weapon|black blade]]'' and shaped like a [[Katanas Are Just Better]].

* ''[[Codename Kids Next Door (Animation)|Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' is made of this trope. The stuff that happens on a typical episode would be laughable anywhere else, but the fans overlook that little detail because it has 10-year-old badasses with homemade weapons and vehicles. Yes.

* ''[[Motorcity (Animation)|Motorcity]]'' takes what made its sister series ''[[Megas XLR]]'' so awesome and dialed those traits [[Up to Eleven|Up To]] [[Beyond the Impossible]] levels by featuring a city over a city, nukes, tornado stunts, tanks, and car chases that basically says "SCREW YOU" to physics. Think a more child-friendly [[FLCL]], except with cars instead of guitars.

* Quartz watches are not just a lot cheaper than mechanical; they're also a lot more accurate. Why do people buy mechanical at all? A combination of conspicuous consumption and [[Rule of Cool]].

[[Category:Tropes of Legend{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:LawsTropes andof FormulasLegend]]

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[[Category:indexNecessary Weasel]]