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Rule of Cool (view source)

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Stated another way, all but the most pedantic of viewers will forgive liberties with reality as long as the result is wicked sweet or awesome. This applies to the audience in general; there will naturally be a [[Your Mileage May Vary|different threshold for each individual]].
 
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 [[BellisariosBellisario'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.
 
Note that you only get to invoke the Rule of Cool if the end product is, in fact, cool. (If the coolness itself causes the result, then it's [[Pure Awesomeness]].) Note also that different opinions on what is "cool" create [[Flame War|the most arguments]] over this. That being said, the Rule of Cool is [[Your Mileage May Vary|very subjective]]. [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?|Failure to properly use this trope]] [[Fridge Logic|can cause]] collision damage with walls.
 
You will need to refer to [[The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide To Cool]].
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Compare [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]. Compare [[Cool of Rule]], [[Rule of Funny]], [[Rule of Fun]], [[Rule of Scary]], [[Rule of Drama]], [[Rule of Romantic]], [[Rule of Cute]], [[Masculinity Tropes]].
 
Contrast [[Viewers Areare Morons]].
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=== Tropes that exist just because of this rule: ===
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* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]
* [[Animal Battle Aura]]
* [[Anti -Gravity Clothing]]
* [[Art Major Biology]]
* [[Art Major Physics]]
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* [[Electric Slide]]
* [[Energy Weapon]]
* [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Dinosaurs]]
* [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Spinning]]
* [[EverythingsEverything's Deader With Zombies]]
* [[Evil Is Cool]]
* [[Evil Laugh]]
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* [[Free Fall Fight]]
* [[Freaky Is Cool]]
* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]
* [[Gun Fu]]
* [[Gun Kata]]
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* [[Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons]]
* [[Instant Awesome Just Add Mecha]]
* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja]]
* [[Instant Plunder, Just Add Pirates]]
* [[Intimidation Demonstration]]
* [[Jackpot Knockout]]
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* [[More Dakka]]
* [[Mundane Made Awesome]]
* [[Name TronNameTron]]
* [[New Rules As the Plot Demands]]
* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]
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* [[Rearing Horse]]
* [[Recursive Ammo]]
* [[Rent a -A-Zilla]]
* [[Revolvers Are Just Better]]
* [[Saved By the Awesome]]
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* [[Sky Pirate]]
* [[She Fu]]
* [[SquatsSquat's in A Name]]
* [[Snap to The Side]]
* [[The Something Force]]
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* [[Stepping Stones in The Sky]]
* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]
* [[Theme Music Power -Up]]
* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]
* [[Trench Coat Warfare]]
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** Of particular note is the beginning of the Arrancar arc, where Shinigami powers suddenly, without in-universe justification, include flight (at least while fighting).
*** It did have a justification from the beginning since soul reapers can walk on spirit particles. But it still counts because its damn cool.
*** There was also justification as to why it didn't happen in Soul Society too. Not nearly as Asspull as it looks, but still damn cool. There's also something of a specific example in soul society of bending the rule that meant they couldn't 'fly' in the first place - the [[Dynamic Entry]] into the cells where Rukia is held is assisted by a giant winged device that is ONLY useful in the Seireitei. Said dynamic entry involved [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?|seeng a giant wing come from nowhere while Ichigo radiates his badass aura, to the surprise of two captains, before discarding it and landing next to Rukia.]]
* In ''[[Bio Mega]]'', 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.
** Three words: Bear With Rifle
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* 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 One World Government will take away your guns with ninja dogs!
* 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 [[BFG|very, very large]].
* ''[[Nextwave]]''. If you need to ask why, read the entry.
* [[Red Hulk]] punched a Watcher during one of his "sworn only to watch, never interfere" speeches to the reader. Why? [[Jeph Loeb]].
* ''[[Sin City]]'' comics (and [[The Movie]]) run on this rule.
* This is the ''actual, canonical'' explanation for the name of the Marvel superhero team [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]. What are they avenging? Nothing, [[The Wasp]] just thought the word "Avengers" sounded badass.
* [[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]] thrives on this trope. How else do you describe a plot about a [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]] professional killer from Gotham City who got superpowers after being bit by an alien parasite having to deal with everything from demons with magic guns to [[Our Zombies Are Different|zombified zoo animals]]?
* ''[[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]] or [[BFS|BFSs]]?
 
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* ''[[Goldeneye (Film)|Goldeneye]]'': The [[Chase Scene]]. Yes, [[Tank Goodness|that chase scene]].
* Either that or the ''[[Transformers (Film)|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.
* In the second ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movie, Basil Exposition turns to the camera and tells the (young, irritable members of the) audience [[BellisariosBellisario's Maxim|not to get upset]] about any [[Timey -Wimey Ball|contradictions]] in the [[Time Travel]] plot of the story.
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' franchise has many:
** ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' has impenetrable force-fields that turn on at the most dramatically convenient times.
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** 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.
** The revelation in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'' that R2-D2 had the ability to fly was cheered enthusiastically, even though he never showed this ability in the original trilogy.
** General Grievous would not exist were it not for this trope. An [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|evil alien cyborg general]] with [[Multi -Armed and Dangerous|four arms]] who hunts Jedi for sport? Hell yes!
** ''[[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.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A07WNupEXk Mace Windu], mostly due to the [[Rule of Sean Connery|Rule Of Samuel L Jackson]].
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** ''[[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.
* ''[[Three Hundred300 (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 On 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.
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** Officer Angel makes ''filling police forms'' look intense, action-packed and cool.
* Arguably ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]'', considering that it had the working title of ''The J & J Project'' ({{spoiler|the whole point of which was to make the Jet Li vs. [[Jackie Chan]] dream fight ''finally'' happen on camera}}).
* The entirety of ''[[Doomsday]]'' (along with [[Refuge in Audacity]]), a film [[So Bad ItsIt's Good|so bad it's **** ING AWESOME]]. A detachable bionic eye/camera? Rule of Cool. Foam grenades? [[Awesome but Impractical|Rule of Cool]]. ''Glasgow!?'' Rule of Cool. The entire thing is an exercise in attaching balls to walls.
** And that's to say nothing of the medieval combat and Bentley Continental GT.
** Supposedly the director had a dream about an awesome showdown between a medieval knight and a modern soldier, and decided to write a movie around it.
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* ''[[The Italian Job]]'' (original of course). Minis that would normally collapse with that much gold? Jumping across gaps in said cars? Driving on the roof of a building and then off again? Oh, and let's not forget [[Memetic Mutation|only blowing the bloody doors off!]]
* ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]''. The guitar case that's really a flame thrower! [[Johnny Depp]] with his eyes gouged out, blood flowing down his face, shooting bad guys! Back in ''[[Desperado]]'' there was a guitar case hiding a [[Metal Slug|HEAVY MASHINE GUN]] and another with a [[Metal Slug|RAWKET LAWNCHAIR]].
* ''[[G.I. Joe]]: [[G.I. Joe the 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]].
** In the "making of" commentary on the DVD, one crew member attributes the mantra (loosely paraphrased) "overdo everything; then make it even bigger" to director Stephen Sommers, and says that they were reminded of this policy daily during the production of the film.
* ''[[Postal]]'' the movie. From a notoriously bad director, based on a non-politically correct game, starring unknowns and having a ridiculous plot, all of which is redeemed by a constant onslaught of "how in the hell did they get away with this, this is unbelievably cool".
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* In ''[[Meg]]'', the main character Jonas Taylor gets swallowed by a 40 ton shark and manages to cut through the stomach lining to get into the heart chamber. Then he rips the heart and manages to go back through the stomach and reach the surface with only a broken escape pod, an air tank, a mask and a 200 million year old tooth. Logical? HELL NO! Awesome? :P
* While most animal-themed [[Gladiator Games]] involve tigers, bears and the like, ''[[Gentleman Bastard|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, [[EverythingsEverything's Worse With Bears|everything's]] ''[[Averted Trope|not]]'' [[EverythingsEverything's Worse With Bears|worse with bears]], especially if they're sentient and armored.
* The last book of the ''[[X Wing Series]]'', ''Starfighters of Adumar'', gives us the ultimate in [[Awesome but Impractical|awesomely implausible]] personal weapons, the [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blastsword blastsword]. It exists pretty much solely because it's cooler than dueling with normal swords.
{{quote| '''Wes Janson''': "So it's like a blaster you have to hit someone with. I've got to have one."}}
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== Live Action TV ==
* Early seasons of ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' [[Charles Atlas Superpower|really had her pushing the limits]] of being a [[Badass Normal]]. She could [[She Fu|fight one-on-one]] with a [[Physical God]] or even against entire armies and win, as well as pull off superhuman feats. A specific example: In one scene, she jumps from a cliff and horizontally spins hundreds of feet onto a passing ship. She could do this because she was Just That Cool. Her [[Theme Music Power -Up|blood-quickening theme music]] sung by the Bulgarian Women's Choir always accompanied such feats. Later seasons had plot-devices and [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]] explaining various powers.
* ''[[Firefly]]'' features quite a lot of this due to the creator's desire to include cool-looking [[Space Western]] themes whether they [[Fridge Logic|really made sense or not]]. From the DVD commentary:
{{quote| "Nice floating train. Floating trains are cool."<br />
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* The open-source game [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 On 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 With 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]] [[EverythingsEverything's Better With 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...
* The small RPG company Atomic Sock Monkey Press has a particular obsession with the Rule of Cool. At least one of their games ("[[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot]]") relies entirely upon the principle behind the Rule to exist. Most games from the company incorporate a rule called "Being [[Badass]]," where if the player describes something he does in a particularly cool or effective way, the attempt gets a + 2 on the dice roll (and in a game that uses only two six-siders, even + 2 is a worthwhile bonus).
* The RPG ''[[Fire Born]]'' from Fantasy Flight Games was built on this trope, featuring as it does reincarnated dragons. Who fight the forces of darkness in [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|near-future London]]. [[Everybody Was Kung -Fu Fighting|With kung fu]]. As the game progresses, they get flashbacks to when they ruled the [[Atlantis|ancient world]] as full-size dragons.
* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''. Physics ''is'' the [[Rule of Cool]], and it's [[Nightmare Fuel|fueled by abyssal nightmares]].
** Further explanation: [[Our Trolls Are Different|The Orks]] can subvert the laws of physics through sheer force of [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|blithering ignorance]], while the Ruinous Forces of [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos]] get a whole [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|dimension]] that lets them grow extra bits of ''[[Body Horror|everything]]'' by way of literal [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]].
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== Toys ==
* ''[[Dino Riders|Dino-Riders'']]: [[Time Travel|time traveling]] humans and alien monsters, some with [[EverythingsEverything's Even Worse With 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 -- that is why the introduction of cybernetic dinosaurs with laser targeting-systems was so welcomed.
* ''[[He-Man and The Masters of The Universe (Animation)|He-Man and The Masters of The Universe]]''
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* 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 (Video Game)|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''?
** A lot of the combination attacks with world-specific partners fall into this area, as do the Drive Forms. Where did Donald and Goofy go? Why does Sora roaring with Beast kill everything? Why does Auron's sword do more damage when he's got Sora [[Back -to -Back Badasses|attatched to his back]]? Where did Sora and Mulan get all those fireworks? Better question. Who cares!? It's ''freaking awesome!''
* ''[[Painkiller]]'' predominantly operates on Rule of Cool. Why is one of the bosses an impossibly enormous zombie/[[FrankensteinsFrankenstein's Monster]]? Why do your weapons include a [[Swiss Army Weapon|divine weed whacker with a laser grapple, a shotgun that can fire freezing blasts, a combined rotary cannon and rocket launcher, and a strange weapon that fires shurikens and arcs of electricity]]? Why can your character [[Super Mode|turn into a demon]], becoming invincible, killing nearly everything in one hit with blasts of inexplicable force, and slowing down time? Because it's cool.
** This is even more true of the [[Gaiden Game]] ''Painkiller: Overdose''. Why is your character a wisecracking angel/demon hybrid who makes pop-culture references his backstory couldn't possibly let him know? Why are your first three weapons a disembodied demon head with dangling spine, a redesign of the aforementioned shotgun as a weapon that fires bone shards and petrifying sludge, and a redesign of the aforementioned weed whacker as a magical puzzle cube? Why is one of your stated opponents at the start of the game the [[Jerkass]] angel that ordered Daniel around in the original game? Because it's cool.
* ''[[Serious Sam]]'' and ''Serious Sam: Second Encounter''. Hordes of enemies rushing at you for no reason in locales so vast, grandeur and glorious that the only real explanation is to look cool and make you feel like the coolest player ever. [[Nintendo Hard|Which you are.]] [[Difficulty Levels|Sometimes.]]
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{{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 From Another World|zeppelins designed to eat other zeppelins]], [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Spider Tank|Spider Tanks]], [[Shock and Awe|planes with lightning guns]], and a base located inside an ancient Inca ruin packed with magma and [[Death Trap|Death Traps]] (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.
* ''[[Ace Attorney]]'': Court proceedings aren't anything [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?|like that]] in real life, but after you've played a bit, ''you'll wish they were''.
* ''[[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.
* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]'' was a game ENTIRELY BASED on doing things with the Force that were so epic it blew your mind away. Fighting a forty-story tall alien tentacle monster? Throwing Darth Freakin' Vader into the wall? Crashing a low-flying STAR DESTROYER into a major city!
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* ''[[Punch Out|Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!]]''. Why else would a four-foot-tall, 107 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.''
** Also, in the [[Wii]] version, why else is [[Mike Tyson]] replaced the final challenger by ''''' {{spoiler|[[Donkey Kong]]}}'''''?
* Pick any [[Shoot 'Em Up]]. Because firing [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] larger than your fighter could handle isn't cool enough...
* Pretty much why the Grenade Launcher exists in ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2''. As Valve said, they and many people wanted to see more stuff blow up, so they threw in the weapon. Combine the weapon with fire bullets and you got a gun of awesome.
* There's a certain online game that fits this trope to a T, and you know it does ''before you even play it.'' Why? On the loading screen, the following is displayed: "[[Every Car Is a Pinto|The following game is really mad]], because unlike other games it does not try to [[Art Major Physics|obey or emulate any rules of physics correctly]]. In fact it was programmed on the basis of ''if it looks cool and feels cool, then it's cool''." The name of said game? ''[[Need for Madness]]''.
* ''[[Hybrid Heaven]]''. It's your typical "aliens plotting to take over the world and only you can stop them" plot, but you beat the aliens ''by performing wrestling moves on them''.
* ''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.
* ''Ultima I''. Just Ultima I. After spending much of the game fighting in a standard RPG setting you must upgrade your weapon to a Phazor, buy a space shuttle and fight TIE Fighters to become a Space Ace so a princess will give you the location of a time machine that you can use to stop the [[Big Bad]] before he reaches [[One -Winged Angel]] form. Spoony said it best:
{{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!"}}
* ''[[Alan Wake]]'' has a scene where you have to defend yourself on a rock stage (in the middle of a farm field) while a [[Crowning Music of Awesome|kickass metal song]] plays and pyrotechnics explode around you. Why? Because '''''fuck yeah'''''.
* Two words, ''[[Asura's Wrath]]''.
* 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. [[EverythingsEverything's Better With 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 -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.
* [[Viewtiful Joe]] is built almost entirely around this trope. Upon entering Movie World, Joe becomes a martial arts expert, is capable of taking tank shells to the face, and [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?|can kill enemies just by striking a pose.]] Not only that, but the game just keeps trying to top itself. After you defeat Fire Leo by burning at temperatures over 1000000 degrees, you end up in a planet-dwarfing mech-battle. ''And that's only the first game.''
* ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' is built on this trope. Where else can you play as a daring female archeologist that is packing heat as she fends off enemies from [[Everything Trying to Kill You|wolves, to henchmen, and even a freaking Tyrannosaurs Rex]] while performing crazy acrobatics to either evade enemy attacks or to get from one place to another. Things get even crazier once Lara Croft gets on a vehicle and can run enemies over or make insane jumps over a chasm. Even the traps are taken to the extreme, such as poison darts, rolling boulders, spikes, fire traps, and many more as the series progressed, yet they still remained awesome.
** In the Crystal Dynamics versions of the games, Lara's craziness is kicked up a notch as she is seen doing the following: storming a Yakuza's stronghold in nothing but a torn evening dress, skydiving to a Russian military base under attack by American forces, and assembling ancient weapons of power to kick even more ass (namely the Excalibur and Thor's Hammer).
** The trope gets lampshaded by the developers in the remake ''[[Tomb Raider]] Anniversary'' when they discuss the Uzi wielding teenager. In the original game, the kid was fought what appeared to be a freaking underground skateboard park and he fought Lara by shooting at her ''while he was skateboarding'' (and the area had a ton of pits with lava in them in case you weren't in enough danger) and giving the line "You firing at me? You firing at me? There's no one else here so you must be firing at me!" The developers admitted that looking back on the level design for the boss fight now, it looked pretty damn silly, but at the same time, it was just too cool.
* The ''[[Esp Galuda]]'' 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.
* ''[[Sengoku Basara]].'' Samurai [[Dual -Wielding]] spears, scythes, chainsaws or just six swords at once. Riding horses like circus freaks. Shit blowing up. [[Engrish]]. Ninjas. Pirates. Zombies. Gundams. A [[Norio Wakamoto]] -voiced villain. All historically accurate, of course.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' uses this mixed with [[Rule of Funny]] to make its [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|bizarre and frequently absurd mythology]] work. Probably reaches its peak during the "Holiday Wars" arc. Bun-Bun, a [[Killer Rabbit|murderous]] [[Talking Animal|talking rabbit]] with the stolen powers of Halloween and the Easter Bunny, leads an army of ghouls in battle against a mutated, alien Santa and his own army of black ops elves. Santa and Bun-Bun have their [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|final showdown]] where they fight each other at [[Super Speed]] using the same ability that lets them deliver presents/hide eggs all over the world in a single day. Eventually {{spoiler|Bun-Bun performs a [[Coup De Grace]] on Santa using a Nerf gun}}. [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/031221 Seriously].
** Then {{spoiler|he manage to steal the [[MacGuffin|Deus Ex Oveum]] before he can use it as a last resort because... well he is the Easter Bunny, he hide eggs deal with it.}}
* In ''[[Mixed Myth]]'', this is treated as one of the laws of the universe (under the name of Cynmatics). It causes anything that looks awesome to be inherently more powerful, such as how a gold wand with crystals in it is more powerful than a wooden wand. The [[Genre Savvy]] characters often take advantages of this, particularly the elves, who take it a bit too far (sometimes receiving a [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?]] from other characters).
* ''[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 As a Teenage Robot|XJ-9]] duke it out is certainly awesome. Also, Phantom using blood bending. Awesome [[Nightmare Fuel]]!
* [[Ansem Retort|This comic]] [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]]
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** Unless you're arguing about ''[[Code Geass]] R2''. Then you're just asking for pain. [[Internet Backdraft|Especially if you say it's the best thing ever.]]
* Deviantart member Sharpwriter wanted to paint the most epic picture you could ever think of. [http://isismasshiro.deviantart.com/favourites/#/d28l9do Here it is].
* 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.
* Most of what happens in [[Mall Fight]] is justified by this.
* ''[[RWBY]]'' is built on this.
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Dino Riders]]'' is about people from the future riding into battle on dinosaurs ''with [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] [[Austin Powers|attached to their heads!]]''
* [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!
** [[You Fools]] missed the pyrotechnics of the scene.
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* [[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 ''[[Rambo]]'' cartoon, go with it, seems to be loaded with this kind of thing [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZoe1UeUgc as seen here]. Most of the time it's just cringe-worthy how ridiculous it all is, the flawed animation and complete insanity of the idea of basing a cartoon for children on an ultra-violent action hero making it impossible to take seriously. Highlights include Rambo wrestling a panther ''under water'', driving a motorcycle ''on top of a train'', and jumping out of a burning aircraft with a rocket launcher and somehow managing to turn around and ''blow up several missiles headed straight for his ally's helicopter with it''.
* The creators of ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'', the [[Continuity Reboot]] to ''[[Batman: theThe 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|nightmarish]] [[Badass]] [[Monster Clown]]. [[Nightmare Fetishist|Which is even better]].
** Actually, they were basically copying the idea of an ''[[Elseworlds]]'' comic called ''Batman & Dracula: Red Rain''. It's still an awesome movie, though, and reached a larger audience than ''Red Rain'' for sure.
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** The [[Theremin]], a box that generates a magnetic field, which the user interrupts to create sound.
** The [http://youtu.be/yCM-WBqDZ-Q Haken Continuum], a three-dimensional continuous keyboard.
** The [http://youtu.be/GQGptfFWZRE The laser harp], an instrument that substitutes [[Frickin' Laser Beams|lasers]] for strings.
 
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:index]]
[[Category:Rule Of Cool]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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